Polymancer is a dream-pop artist based in India’s enthralling indie music scene, inspired by the alternative sounds of artists like EDEN, Mali, and Joji to create a sound that aims to make you feel as if you’re floating in an ocean of sound, nothing but music as your remise to the world.
Having learned the guitar from the age of 7 and making his own melodies soon after, Poly has been involved in music in some way or another for the longest time, from the school rock band to perform at gigs with his band at the local cafes in Delhi to being part of other bands in Delhi and Bangalore. Poly started producing and engineering his own music in 2018, moving on to release numerous singles on Spotify and other major platforms. Poly’s debut EP Dream Caching was a pre-Halloween release, landing on October 30, 2020, on all major platforms across the internet, and has amassed over 15,000 streams on Spotify alone, more on other platforms.
Here is Polymancer in a conversation with GOGO Magazine.
1) When did your journey as a musician begin?
I remember starting to write my first few songs as a seven-year-old in an old notebook that I called the ‘song book’, as it went. I’d have complete ideas of how I wanted the compositions to be in my head but didn’t know the best way to get them down on record or tape in any way. Starting with the guitar at the same age roughly helped me quite a bit with ideation and I soon got into a band around sixth grade. It’s been quite the journey.
2) Tell us more about your experience of learning guitar from a very young age.
It was pretty fun, to say the least. I remember initially not understanding how it could ideally be used in the songwriting process much because everything I was learning seemed to be focused around singular string plucks, but those were the basics. Getting myself around chords with time helped me a lot with writing tunes and playing in bands, eventually helping me understand my vision as a musician and where I wanted to take my sound.
3) Which has been your first track?
The first full original I put out goes by the name of Got Me 2, which was written back in 2018 and came out in 2020 in a stripped version on YouTube.
4) Who has been your inspiration?
I’m really inspired by a few artists I listen to on a regular basis like EDEN, Jeremy Zucker, and Joji. Growing up with the sounds from the 60s to the early 2000s across genres with the likes of Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Beatles, Linkin Park, and Green Day, I’ve had a bunch of musical styles backing my songwriting. It’s lately moved into the slower realm of dream-pop and sound that can surround you and make your thoughts flow.
5) Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I have some really cool plans and targets that I want to get to in the next few months and years, around what kind of performances I have coming up to what intensity of projects I’m looking to do. Touring across the world would be one thing once we’re comfortable coming around the post-COVID era, an interesting place to perform at being Lollapalooza, as well as Coachella in terms of big festivals. A lot can be done in five years, and the future is ours to behold. Sooner goals include my upcoming projects, which I have a lot planned for already, The implementation is something I’d love to focus on more, with visual themes being a strong suit I want to have for accompanying the music.
6) How would you describe your music?
I feel it’s a darker side of pop, more intense in emotion and the feelings it invokes in the listener. That’s the goal of music in general, and I feel there can be so much done with sounds in general while keeping it generally more on the conventional side of things to suit a wider audience without getting too deep into any particular niche. I make dreams pop, and for music to take you in and engulf you in it makes it a very nice idea. Dark basses, multiple layers of vocals, and lots of sound design help in making it feel just like you’re in the middle of a dream, and I love it.
7) Which has been your most memorable project or song?
There are a few projects that are really close to my heart, so it’s tough competition between reality and I Can’t Sleep. Both of them being standout videos in my release processes, I feel I Can’t Sleep was extremely intense in its own way. Being my first music video that was a properly scripted and professional project, the planning and filmmaking and the intricacies of it was quite close to the idea we had in mind, along with the fact that this video was done entirely on my personal equipment with the help of my two friends, Yaman Nidhi and Hardik Pahwa, who helped with the conceptualization and the production of the project. What came
out as an end product is something we’re all quite proud of for a debut music video, and the song holds a special place in my heart as well.
8) What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
Keep at it and don’t stop if it takes a little while to take off. It’s always worth it in the end to do something you love every day. Keeping your focus on the quality of the product should also be the main thing in mind when releasing good music, and you really can’t cut any corners in the process to perfection.
9) Share some of your achievements with the magazine.
I’ve been featured on Rolling Stone India’s homepage and media outlets for my last few major releases with some interviews and articles as well as some wonderful magazines across the world with AAA Music in the UK and Savala Magazine, The Curve Magazine, Radio City Freedom, Artist Directory, among many others.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES – Under 25 MCC’s Artist Takeover, The Courtyard Bangalore,
Live From HQ’s Showcase for January 2021, SouthBay Live’s Sublime Collective, The Yellow
Submarine Bangalore, Church Street First, Sakley’s Gurgaon, and many more.
10) How was life in quarantine?
Life during quarantine has been both hard to deal with and adjust to as well as quite helpful at times, contradictory in some terms, but okay nonetheless. I’ve been able to give my music the much-needed time and focus that it needs to be able to get to the point where I’m at right now, and the entire idea of work from home really helped with that. I had just graduated at the time the first lockdown got announced, and adjusting to new schedules and reversed sleep cycles ended up being quite a bit of fun at the end of it all. I did a bunch of work in music production and that’s when I started pushing out music professionally. It’s been fruitful as a time, only gets better when it all opens up.
FOLLOW THE ARTIST POLYMANCER
INSTAGRAM: @POLYMANCER
YOUTUBE: POLYMANCER
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