"Dogma Talks About The Individual's Actions Being Suppressed By The Dominant Administration." Pink Amphibians On Their Debut Single
Every so often, we're treated to music that seriously messes with our heads. We'd count Dogma by Pink Amphibians as one of them. With a track as calm as a breezy evening and Morcheeba by the sea married to lyrics that can only be described as a piercing rumination of a suppressive regime, Dogma does warrant multiple listenings.
Today we have Aniket Thyagarajan, one half of the Bangalore duo, chatting with Flipsyde Live about their bone-chilling debut single.
First off, tell us about the story behind your name Pink Amphibians.
Pink Amphibians is a duo from Bangalore, India. Comprising Kevyn Lahkar and I. Pink Amphibians is a brainchild of this stream of thought – a musical narrative not dictated by genre or concepts, but by honest accounts of how we perceive the world around us in a time of the ever changing broken social scene.
Can you elaborate on the idea behind Dogma? (i.e 'Dogma' has proven that all our actions and decisions are merely the machinations of a predetermined organization and our concept of 'free will' is naught but a comforting illusion.)
Conforming to the norm is what the sheep do and society has been primarily based on this fact. The innovative are the ones who take what's given and utilize it in ways not considered before, to think outside the box and make the masses wonder how they haven't thought of that form. The real innovators are those who are fluid and not confined by the labels put by the others, neither on them nor on the tools they use to create their art and leave their mark. The kind of people who don't care what others think, but will never rest until they are satisfied with their creation. One who knows no boundaries when it comes to creativity and originality. When it comes to confronting a big organisation or even a government that restricts these capabilities, the idea of being ostracised is encouraged. The song talks about the individual's actions being suppressed by the dominant administration. 'Dogma' may not necessarily talk about truth but more of a dark and nihilistic way of being forced to divulge. An example would be 'put me back to sleep' as literal reference as well as metaphorically representing execution.
Dogma sounds very familiar! Maybe something we've heard in trip hop before... tell us about the process.
Being a debut song of Pink Amphibians, it's the first song Kevyn and I have seriously taken the time and effort to make something serious after knowing each other since 2015 and countlessly failing to make something happen. Well, the overall process was relatively quick and happened in a very smooth and streamlined manner. I had written this song (lyrically and structure) in the later half of February. All synths you hear are from my recently acquired Korg Minilogue Synthesiser that I bought of a friend of mine. This is the first ever song I made using analog synthesisers in my workflow so definitely it holds a special place. Definitely there are some iconic influences from various artists such as Thom Yorke and Björk.
The artwork is really trippy! Reminds us of the great Naoto Hattori's work. Who did it and tell us a bit about what it represents.
The single's artwork as well as the logo were made by Harshil Singh who we met during a casual visit to church street where a carnival like event was happening.
Harshil describes the artwork as a representation of 'Authentic Expression is a transformation of True Experience'. Together they make a better place to be alive and keeps the magic going but without them both, things could go beyond destruction.
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