Couple in musical sync

MUSICIANS Jyothi Nayar and Benjamin Paul have been on a whirlwind journey this year, and now they are preparing to launch their first EP in the new year.

After a chance meeting in Dumfries back in April, the pair became a couple, then bandmates in Sunshine and the Silver Seams and started gigging across Dumfries and Galloway.

Sharing a passion for music, their creative spark quickly fanned the flames of their own songwriting and they started working on their first EP, ‘Every Cloud’, during summer, with funding help off Up Yer Airts, with Benji writing the music and Jyothi writing the lyrics.

Describing their process and style, Benji said: “Everything is written with a purpose and thought out quite carefully, and the harmonies we do accentuate that, giving it’s a very folky, Americana, country sound.

“The first track we had written together for the EP was called ‘The Heart of the Land’ and I was just playing some music on the guitar and that melody just sparked something for Jyothi and she ended up writing the words really quickly.

“We’ve been able to sync up our brains to make a nice sound, but it feels so easy and instant, so songwriting has come to us quite quickly.

It tends to be Jyothi writes the lyrics and I’ve written the guitar and we work together to refine it and make it a song.”

Now with all the songs recorded, the duo are fine tuning things ahead of the launch on January 11 at the Robert Burns Centre, with additional events in Moniaive and New Galloway later in the month.

Reflecting on the whole process and looking ahead to the launch, Benji added: “Our voices just mould together really nicely, so it feels really authentic to that style of music with a bit of a modern take on it, but we definitely try to stay to more of an analogue acoustic approach.

“It’s quite nice getting to work with my girlfriend because it’s harder to make music by yourself and I’d been writing for a while before I met Jyothi, but working on this EP has felt like a problem shared because we’re both giving and putting in just as much as each other, and we’re bouncing ideas off each other.

“It’s been a bit of learning curve for us being in the studio, but we’re excited to get it out there to introduce ourselves and our sound to the world.”