“I used to have a day job," Calcutta based instrumental dance band Write In Stereo guitarist, Debangshu Roy tells us; “But I quit, because I wanted to make music full time.” Write in Stereo were still doing the rounds in the Calcutta music scene as, Turfe – a quintet, before the band suffered the departure of the vocalist a little over a year ago. “So, we already had an idea of things; in Turfe itself, the four of us were trying to do different stuff. But we dint take that material to Turfe because that would not work with that kind of sound." After Turfe disbanded, the remaining members continued jamming, this time experimenting with a new sound. "So we kind of figured out the sound," Debangshu says, "And went to rehearsals a couple of times and thought that, ‘Yeah, this sounds pretty cool. Let’s do this.’ That’s how Write In Stereo happened.” The band has deliberately maintained a low profile in the music scene right now, with the occasional live performances, and even rarer online release of music; even so, the quartet marks a checkpoint to a shift in the Indian music spectrum. “We wanted to try out this instrumental stuff,” Debangshu says, “It just works for us. We were a little apprehensive about what people will think initially, but then we decided that it’s our music, it’s our sound.” Debangshu counts bands like Foals, Mutemath, The Whitest Boy Alive, and Toe, as some of the major sounds that “seeped” through into the band’s music; with a result that has a jazz blues kind of feeling meshed with ambient, psychedelic guitars, playing around with tones.
 

Write In Stereo rocking the Red Bull Tour Bus
 

Write in Stereo’s first appearance online was a live performance of their song ‘Moby’, featured on The Soundcheck Project, up for stream on YouTube. But apart from that, there is very little internet activity from the band’s end; “We have not released anything online,” Debangshu says, “Nothing. As a matter of fact we came across one of our songs doing the rounds as an mp3. And it turned out that it was ripped off of one our live performances posted on YouTube.”

Although audiences are lapping up whatever bit of the band’s music available online, Debangshu assures us that we’re going to have to wait a bit longer for some more. The band is facing a few logistical issues regarding recording and production of their music; “We’re trying to figure it out,” Debangshu tells us, “Of course, the main conflict is whether to go all out, the way we’re thinking. But then there are problems with performing that live, because the way we’re planning to produce the record we won’t able to perform it. Because, we don’t have the instruments and it’s just the four of us. So, we’ll have to play some of the stuff back, and then play on top of it; so we’re just deciding all of these factors.” Along with the fact that half the band has their day jobs to prioritize, Write In Stereo are having some trouble gaining traction. But the band digresses, seemingly hopeful of releasing an EP by the end of this year; claiming that coming to a consensus on how to go about the recording and production process is of paramount importance. “We’re planning on doing it ourselves,” Debangshu tells us about the bands upcoming EP, “But we are not very sure on who can help us out or point us in the right direction. Also, Miti adhikari is in town, and that’s always great news; but he’s expensive to hire.” Considering the fact that some of the members have day jobs, the band is rushing in to spend whatever little time they can to jam and use mostly rudimentary techniques to record their pad sessions, while still working hard on their music to achieve the best from it that they can. It seems tough, although the band is not particularly overwhelmed by the apparent circumstances. “We really want the production of the songs right,” Debangshu tells us, “I mean there is no point in just putting out songs for the heck of it. You might as well wait maybe another four or five months to get it done the right way.”

Watch a video of 'Moby' by Write In Stereo, live on The Soundcheck Project below: