Ishani – Dark Angel
ARTIST NAME: Ishani
SONG TITLE: Darl Angel
RELEASE DATE: Aug 24th
GENRE: Triphop/Pop
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Ishani – Dark Angel
State your reason for choosing music as a career.
I’ve always really wanted to be a musician. I wrote my first song when I was 16 and I’m completely self-taught. I used to run a video production company in Singapore and would make music videos for other artists, but I really wanted to start making music videos for my own songs!
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Tell us how you write the lyrics to your songs.
It varies. I may start with just a bass line and then write the lyrics on top of it. Or sometimes I’ll get inspired by a certain phrase, image, cause or feeling and start writing around it.
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Share your press release and reviews with us.
Ishani comforts the disturbed on her life-affirming new song ‘Dark Angel’
“Dank, trip-hop songwriting with a twilight feel”
– Clash
“a wonderfully unique sound”
– Listen With Monger
“Soulful vocals set alongside glitchy beats and ethereal, whirring hooks”
– GET IN HER EARS
“She is breathing some much deserved new life into the Trip Hop genre as a whole.”
– DJ MAG
“This song was pure therapy. It has helped me cope with the death of two of my friends, both of which turned my whole world upside down. I hope this song can help others. So many people are affected by suicide, whether it is the death of someone close to us or an idol.”
About ‘Dark Angel’
Ishani’s ‘Dark Angel’ may be her best song yet, but the difficulty with such an assertion is that it belies the pains involved in creating it. ‘Dark Angel’ is certainly the most difficult to write of all her songs so far. “I have lost close friends to suicide,” she says of the song’s subject, “and recent events have forced me to revisit this song, – we are living through a time of increased awareness of mental health, but we still see so many people ending their lives.” Despite the abject darkness of the theme, and despite provocative lyrics that leave little to the imagination, (“stay with me here until we are dead” she urges those grappling with suicidal thoughts), there is a sense that Ishani has made leaps with co-producer Zaflon towards emerging with a distinct sound. There is enough in the melodies and the beautiful harmonies to suggest a child of the No Doubt/‘Bring Me To Life’ school of goth-kid pop hooks, but more than that, there is the suggestion of an artist whose sound may evoke certain styles, but whose delivery is in a class of her own. Ishani has the vocal confidence of musicians decades her senior, and in her pained and hair-raising performance of ‘Dark Angel’ you can already see her beguiling star power.
About Ishani
Ishani spent her childhood in the sprawling metropolis of Bangalore, India. After obtaining her degree in TV, Film and Radio in Singapore she moved to London to study Audio Engineering at Alchemea & Point Blank. Her first track ‘Pelican Elephant’ was picked up by MTV India and she was showcased as a BBC introducing artist. Ishani has performed at Sziget Festival and she’s also opened for the Icelandic electronic group ‘GusGus’ at Be My Lake Festival. Her second single ‘Don’t Stop the Fight’ was picked up by VH1 and included in the Indian interactive comic book Priya’s Mirror. Ishani is deeply influenced by artists such as Massive Attack, Portishead, Morcheeba and Hooverphonic. She is now working on the new music that will eventually be released as her debut EP Stormy Emotions in August 2018. Instantly recognisable by her distinctive vocals, and with incisive and often challenging lyricism, (‘Don’t Stop The Fight’ centres on the horrific social effects of rape), Ishani has already earned her dues as a serious and provocative recording artist. Her last single ‘Insomnia’ centred on the anxiety that keeps us awake every night, and latest release ‘One Can Jump’ is inspired by the loss of two of her friends to suicide, a loss too difficult for Ishani to discuss in detail. Ishani strikes the pop landscape as a serious artist committed to making both serious and widely appealing work. Her themes are culled from the darkness and the light in the world around her, and she weaves her razor sharp observations into pristine and addictive electro pop.
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Discuss your life outside the music world.
I got married three times last year, thankfully all to the same person. I’m from India so we got married there, in London where I live with my husband and in Suffolk where he is from. I paint. I do yoga. I like to cook – cooking and making music are kinda similar. I love living in London because we are surrounded by so much culture. Getting to plays, exhibitions and gigs.
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Discuss your music career.
So far so good. I was studying Sound Engineering when a friend of mine from Singapore called Candice visited me. We decided to shoot a music video together for one of the first tracks I made. It got picked up by MTV India and I haven’t looked back since. I’m currently working on an EP and new music video. Plus a top secret project on the side with a very talented musician!
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List your four favourite music videos with reasons.
Lorn – Acid Rain
I love that it is all one take, slow motion, music plus dance. All choreographed so well.
Cibo Matto – Sugar Water
This one is amazing. It is so clever. Michel Gondry directs the stories of two women – one going backwards in time, the other going forwards. Until they meet, and then it switches.
Childish Gambino – Sweatpants
Again it’s a time loop that is totally trippy and smart. Every time he enters the dinner, a new version of his own face is there, looking up at him. The music has this dream like quality and the video suits it so well.
Capital Cities – Kangaroo Court
My favourite! So cinematic. So dark. No Zebras allowed.