Tags: New Music
Kohinoorgasm knows the fight isn’t easy. In her new Chalo EP, she soundtracks the constant exhaustion and necessary hope of everyday resistance.
She’s back with her signature playful synth beats with meditative melodies. Her four-track EP is perfect for this winter, balancing idealistic imagination and emotional validation. This time around, she experiments with song structure and lyricism while maintaining her original sound, one characterized by ethereal, looped phrases that put you deep in your head.
The title and first track, “Chalo,” dropped with a dreamy music video this fall. “Chalo,” which in Hindi translates to “let’s go,” starts off the EP on a hopeful and imaginative note. The track is the aspirational escape before reality sets in. The layered vocals give the song an otherworldly quality, allowing daydreams to bubble up, set to a catchy beat.
The following tracks pivot from this idyllic world back to our often-disappointing one. “Another Day” and “Drained” feel like direct responses to daily frustrations and stresses that build under the surface, a response that is at once enticing and soothing. In “Drained,” she stands up to these pressures directly and calls out those who take more than they give. “I’m protecting my energy,” she asserts.
With “Waiting For You,” Kohinoorgasm returns to her original sound, with comforting, repetitive vocals and lingering, punchy beats.
After her last mini-EP, Synthwali and the War Empire, in which she wanted to “capture the vibe of subcultural resistance,” Chalo EP gives us the reality of coping this resistance, from turning to escapism to standing up against the forces that make life harder.
Chalo EP is the deep breath you take before stepping out the door and facing the day. Kohinoorgasm teaches us, in small ways, how to cope.
Download Chalo EP here. Photography by Andrea Granera