A divergent group of electronic musicians from India have combined their energies and sounds to address social isolation. An independent sonic reaction to the current zeitgeist. The effort in principal is curated by Varun Desai, under the formation of a new label called Social Isolation. A meeting point of narratives, which dwell on the dark, abstract, cinematic, morbid. noisy, at times lofty and at times blissful. The quick succession of three album featuring 20 odd artists presents a diverse palette, drawn by various unknown and known voices based in India. "After the pandemic hit and India went into lockdown - a group of electronic musicians came together under the banner of Social Isolation. It's since become a music label. We've released 40 tracks since the beginning of April" states Varun, who has been in lockdown with his family outside Kolkata. His artist moniker 5volts is known for it's freeform cadence, made of live synthesis, old-school techno, the intermittent voice and modular sounds. Ambient music, especially from the electronic realm, has been an area of deep interest for Varun and the current lockdown proved to be a blessing in disguise. To be able to envision and compile music which addresses two realms, isolation as a reality and ambient music as an outcome.


"I've been trying to mobilise a movement of ambient music in India since I got back from the US in 2008. Never happened because of the industries attention was always focused on events in clubs and venues so the opportunity to get more than a handful of people to listen to contemplative ambient music never happened. Once the lockdown begun there was a need for this kind of music, be it active listening or just something playing at home while you went on with your day. Hence the first compilation was born and from it came a response that's been fuelling the label" states Varun. Though we are not sure about the "need" for any particular type of music during a pandemic, yet it's clear that the formation of a new label (with distinct curation) is providing a new and austere space to many non-mainstream artists from India. It would be interesting to see (and hear) if the label were to continue it's current trajectory, which is ambient and conceptual by all means.

Much has been discussed and extrapolated about the nature of ambient music, yet the genre remains vast, in terms of exploration and expression, as it was 20 or 30 years ago. As a label, Social Isolation is placed in a very niche world, as most of the composers are new and naive, yet dedicated towards the artform - in need of space and audibility (and visibility). This is an interesting place to look (and listen) in terms of emerging narratives in ambient music, perhaps privileged in nature but surely outside the rat-crowded world of EDM. The clubs are shut, the festivals cancelled, the tours off-the-table, and we are left with our synthesizers, drum machines, sound-toys and computers inside our personal spaces - where we are forced to contemplate, rewire and reimagine. The label and it's little armada of ambient composers, is one of the few novel ideas launched during the lockdown, manifesting in an organic way, taking electronic music in the right direction again.