SHREYA BOSE
Elephants on the Beach (Angad
Berar): What is the difference
between self-exploration and
escaping from a shattered world?
22
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
Angad Berar explores answers,
perhaps inadvertently in his debut
album through a haze of viscous
soundcraft and inward-seeking
ideology. Cast out of solitary
inspiration Berar received while
ambling in and around Goa’s
Anjuna Beach, the album is a call
to return to the self and for just a
moment, let the chaos pass you by.
He samples the words of
iconoclasts like philosopher
Alan Watts, Jamaican spirit-
man Mooji and scientist Albert
Hofmann who discovered LSD.
The music is meandering yet
exact, goading and nudging the
listener into self-discovery.
Hazy Light, Sunlight lets guitar
strings bloom gently as they
cradle the words of Hofmann:
“If you have open eyes, you
may see the world in a different
light. You see it as it really is.”
The puzzle fades into the
murmurings of a housewife
who took LSD as part of a 1950s
experiment and pierced the veil
of mundane everyday to discover
unbearable beauty. Diving is built
around Mooji’s exhortation to
sit with one’s discomfort/agony/
void - to have a chat with “what it
is that is burning”. He is framed
in lustrous guitarwork that blows
a kiss and a wink to Khurangbin
and 60’s psychedelic spontaneity.
AstroKnaut plays with melody
and dissonance - seasoned Steven
Wilson fans may detect a whiff
of Voyage 34 Part I. The music
moves in and out of grandeur,
often lapsing into quizzical sounds
that hint at bewildering, perhaps
beautiful mayhem. A carefully
cultured madness consumes
the world, and eventually
seeps into vaulting chants that
invite peace and resolution.
What the story is about, you’d
have to ask the creator. Or
better yet, invent your own.
Svara is sombre, and Moonlovin’
dials down on creating wonder.
Infact, that is what the album
inherently tries to do - give
the listener a sense that there
is joy and being okay-ness in
the mere fact of existence. It’s
a tall order, since the world
seems bent on giving us reasons
to despair. With songs like
Dreamstate and Anjuna, we are
gently reminded that there is
space between our breaths, and
within the space is the closest
we can get to perfection.
Between Dione and Mimas
presents a fascinating play
of sonic textures. Instead of
complementing and garnishing
the guitar (as done in other
songs), the other musical
elements emerge in their own
right. The familiar comfort of
Alan Watts’ Falling Into Love
is carved with an intuitive
interplay of tones, reflecting
the subtle energetic exchanges
that keep the universe in play.
Elephants on the Beach is both
guidance and revelation. You
can certainly come to it with a
desire to seek answers, but it is
best approached with a simple
openness and willingness to rest.
Berar asks for very little: just
settle into yourself as you are
now, and let the music take you.
A pithy but perfect summary
of his intent can be sought in
what The Beatles recommended
in Tomorrow Never Knows:
Turn off your mind relax
and float down stream
It is not dying, it is not dying
Lay down all thoughts,
surrender to the void
It is shining, it is shining
Yet you may see the
meaning of within
It is being, it is being