Faridkot’s famous singer-composer duo Inder Preet Singh and Rajarshi Sanyal are entertaining the audience with their music. Delving into what they like to call ‘confused pop’, the duo not only released a new EP, Ibtida, earlier this year, but also composed the music for the Bhuvan Bam-starrer Taaza Khabar Season 2.

In an interview with India Today Digital the artistes talked about being an indie artist versus composing music for films and web shows, how they want to collaborate and what they expect before a collaboration.

Some excerpts:

How are you guys going through Confused Pop, and what’s inspiring you guys now?

Inspiration is everywhere. If one keeps searching, there is never a shortage of inspiration. But to give a clear answer, we have just built our new studio in Mumbai, and it really keeps us inspired and excited.

How do you decide what direction to take for a new song or album when experimenting with genres?

Actually, life and circumstances show you direction. Unless it’s a brief that you’re writing, you just jump inside your thoughts and train yourself to identify the words or melodies or ideas you want to say and express.

You have collaborated with many talents. What aspects do you focus on before collaborating with someone?

In fact it is a very dynamic process. But we like to get people to do something they haven’t done before. If someone is known for having a romantic voice, we might want to explore deeper music with them. If there is an Indian classical instrumentalist, we would like to see how they would sound in a Western arrangement. This helps us keep it fresh and also helps us explore an unexplored side of the musicians we collaborate with.

What’s a dream collaboration you haven’t done yet but would love to do?

We would really like to create a property with all the folk music of India. And being able to mix it with new sounds and sonically make it more in line with today. But if we had to choose a collaborator, we would love to do a song with Arijit Singh.

You’ve also composed music for films and web shows, Latest News season two being the most recent. Do you think this is beneficial, since you already have a dedicated fan base and have performed at many live shows?

It’s just a different medium. The soul behind the music remains the same. But of course, the reach is huge. Having said that, in today’s day and age, films are choosing indie music, as was the case with ‘Nasha’. That’s why in today’s time there has been a kind of mixture of indie and film music.

We live in a time when people are returning to old songs – be it music or lyrics. And it’s not just for the artists who are remaking the songs, but also for the audience. What is your opinion on this?

This has always happened. Even international bands performed their favorite artists. If you reimagine them, we think it’s a tribute to timeless music. Artists should just try to retain the soul of the song and then have fun with it.

How do you see the indie music scene evolving in India? What do you think needs to change for more indie artists to gain mainstream recognition?

We think it’s a great time to be an indie musician in India. And as we mentioned, the line between indie and mainstream continues to blur. The only need of the hour is good, soulful and simple music.

What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced as an independent artist in the Indian music industry and how have you overcome them?

The biggest challenge is knowing your relationship with your music. And also exploring the business side of things. If you want your music to become your source of income, you have to understand how to do it. Even after almost two decades of making music, we have had to constantly evolve and work on our craft to stay relevant and inspired. Just keep at it and things will fall into place.

How do you see Faridkot developing in the next few years? Is there a specific direction you’d like to take musically?

Haha! We’ve always had a problem with picking a musical straight away (hence, confused pop). But the idea is to always keep music at the center of things and design everything around it. And the plan is the same with Faridkot. Like we say in Hindi, ‘race horse,

Looking back, what do you consider to be Faridkot’s biggest achievement so far?

We’d say stick to the basics of making music and keep out all the other noise. We are really proud of always keeping music as the top priority and that is our greatest achievement.