After Art: Weaving psychogeography into music
After Art’s fifth EP ‘Voices’ features Armeen Musa, Sohini Alam, Francesca Alphonso, and Amanda Sterkenberg
Sajib Azad, the artist behind the enigmatic title 'After Art', has taken the concept of psychogeography and connected it with the art of creating and composing music. Travelling across the globe for his profession as an economist allows him the scope to create songs as a scene with an amalgamation of people, places and spaces.
Earlier, on 20 March, After Art released his fifth EP titled 'Voices' through Akaliko Records featuring artists Armeen Musa, Sohini Alam, Francesca Alphonso, and Amanda Sterkenberg.
In a conversation with The Business Standard, Sajib gives a tell-all of his music ventures around the world.
Birth of the 'After Art' artistry
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Sajib grew up in the UK and studied economics. Back in school, he used to take sitar lessons and performed in the drama society. In his 'typical angsty teenage' years, he started a pop punk band called 'Get a night life'. "I was always into classics, often inspired by artists like Enya, Bryan Eno, Pet Shop Boys and REM," he said.
Referring to a book he had come across in his earlier days, 'Last night a DJ saved my life', he said his focus at the time was to soundtrack a party as a DJ but then, eventually realised it is more fun writing his own songs.
"I enjoyed the fusion of dance music and Indian classics. For a few years, I performed under the name 'Tadhin Project'. But this was quite limiting because you'd only expect South Asian music," he said.
'After Art' was launched in 2005.
"I wanted something that was not my own name, but one that didn't imply any specific genre. So, 'After Art' doesn't immediately tell you what I do. On my creative side, the name came to allow scope for a multitude of works; sound installation, music for a theatre production or short film, live sessions with my equipment including synthesiser, and collaboration with various artists," he explained.
After Art's previous EPs include Psychogeography Impressions (2019), Psychogeography Expressions (2020), Stillness (2020), and Pages (2021). His latest project Voices (2023) is in collaboration with audio-visual (AV) artists and four female performers.
The song featuring Armeen – a Bangladeshi artist whose song 'Jaago Piya' was part of a nomination for the 65th Grammy award – was created with plenty of space to allow her to sound breathy. Hence, the name 'Vapour'.
Then there's Amanda, a Dutch-UK-based artist, whose song 'Shadows Lengthened' explored the concept of how digitalisation is connecting us as well as disconnecting us.
Written in two parts, 'Wait' features French poetry by Francesca resembling an AM radio station you're dialling into with a woozy rhythmic misstep, shifting gear into Bengali classical by Sohini, a Bangladeshi artist who is also a vocalist for bands Khiyo, GRRRL, and Lokkhi Terra.
Psychogeography
As an economist, Sajib uses data as a tool to scrutinise and decipher. His job opened for him ventures across various countries, including Spain, Japan, China, South Korea, Ethiopia, and Malaysia. He's currently based in Thailand.
But the Bangladeshi-British artist describes bringing his core interest in generative music to life as a tool to connect with the places he sets foot in on a deeper level.
"I have a track called 'Functional Geography'. The only geography that's functional is the one based on relationships and people, as the concept of psychogeography keeps on resonating with me. Each city has such a specific vibe that I'm always processing and thus, diarising my emotions and experiences into songs."
Asked which city he felt most drawn to, Sajib said, "Dhaka had a huge impact on me." He'd been in his home country from 2015-2018.
He shared how he hadn't been writing too prominently for about a couple of years prior to visiting Dhaka but coming here, he was revved back into creating music as passionately as ever. "The work I was doing with Shoummo Saha, the events and shows we organised at Jatra Biroti and other venues, and the classes we used to take at the EMK centre, made my Dhaka experience memorable," he said, crediting the Dhaka Electronic Music Scene.
Among various works, After Art is currently working on site-specific sound installations for Bangkok Design Week 2023 and Tracks/Sound for 6060 Arts Space.
The installation comprises a unique idea where collaborators have taken a dive into creating 1-minute journeys, where they replace every visual element into a sound "that is not a literal representation but a lateral one".
"The audience would listen to the tracks without the visual and guess which city is being represented. Idea being, take all the visual cues and elements out, and turn them into sound. This way, you can tell there's a huge difference between the visual and audio 'assault' we go through in these highly urbanised societies," said After Art.
