When there is hope, it gives us the feeling of being alive. Josh & Dipan have taken this thought seriously and turned it into a five-minute song. On Our Souls At Night — their third released song — the duo have played around with the sound adding ’80s-style glam rock and rock effect to it while retaining the soulful Josh & Dipan touch. What’s more? They even got Stuart Munro on board to help them out with the bassline. A chat with Dipan Basak of the duo.
How did Stuart Munro get into the collab?
We were midway with the production and we were looking for a bass player. We wanted an authentic bass sound rather than just programming it. We called Stuie uncle and asked him if he would want to play the bass for the song. He was kind enough to agree. Stuie uncle came to the studio one day, and it literally took him just a day to figure out what he would play and we tracked him the next day.
What are your different roles in the song?
It’s just like any other Josh & Dipan song. Josh did the vocals for the song, Stuie uncle did the bass and I did all the guitar and keyboard parts. The drums were programmed. Arunima aunty (Dasgupta) helped us figure out the harmonies.
The artwork for the song was painted by singer Arunima Dasgupta
It has a very soulful and melodic sound to it with a hint of rock. Is that the sound you guys were looking for?
That’s exactly the sound we were looking for. We didn’t want the song to be under a specific genre. We went for a very ’80s kind of sound. The ‘chorus and reverb’ driven guitar tones add a very ’80s touch to it. The distorted guitar gives it a touch of rock. Josh went full out with the vocals, giving a very raw and powerful edge to the song. The acoustic guitar and the bass guitar added an extra dimension to the song... the soundscape just opened up.
What do the lyrics mean?
This song is about hope. Sometimes it’s hard to live in the present when you have so much you adore from the past. The song talks about how the spiritual you travels from the past to now. “Hope” is a reminder that we are alive, the day we stop hoping is the day we stop living. There’s a particular line in the song that goes: Oh best believe that the flames never die, an escape route for hope to survive. The song is an escape route for hope to survive. The sheer pain and ache of losing hope is heart-wrenching. When you feel that you’re losing hope, the bravest thing you can do is find an escape route for it to survive.
When Josh and Dipan met me and said they have this new song in the making and asked if I would be interested in playing on it, I immediately said ‘yes’, as I had been following their music and liked what I heard. They sent me the track and I was pleased with their mature songwriting and laid down the bass track... I wanted the sound to be big and I think the end result has achieved just that. Great melody, Josh’s strong mature vocals and Dipan’s excellent guitar work have blended to make this track a winner
Stuart Munro
How would you say this song sets you apart from your previous releases?
We think this song is very different from the rest of our releases specially because of the way it sounds. It sounds different but in the meantime retaining the ‘Josh & Dipan’ sound. I think this song explores the ’80s, glam rock and soft rock side of us.
What else is coming up?
Currently we are working on a psychedelic song, a very indie acoustic song and a song which is completely funk. My single is coming out on April 29 and it’s called What If There’s No Tomorrow?.