Songwriter, guitarist, music composer, engineer, Akash Murthy is certainly a man of many talents. At the age of just 24, this self taught musician has two albums to his name – one with his band Farfetch’d and another, a solo project, which was rated 10/10 by Rolling Stones!
Unlike a number of musicians, Akash reveals that he didn’t always aspire to be a musician. “I actually got exposed to the guitar and picked it up because my friends used to play it. I have always been more into the technical side of it,” says the 24 year old who used to study audio with the help of e-books when he was in college. Now, both of his albums are available online for free! Explaining why he isn’t selling them, Akash says “It’s difficult to sell music in India. If it’s free, people will download it and listen to it on their phones, so there’s a bigger reach. Plus, since it was all done at my home studio, I haven’t spent any money on it so it’s not a loss.”
Revealing a little about The Alchemist, the album he released with his band Farfetch’d, Akash says “The Alchemist was a studio-only project that we brought out back in 2013 when I was still working as an engineer. After people heard our album, a number of them suggested that we go live, and we did.”
Quite the adventure lover, Akash is also fond of cycling, trekking and exploring new places, when he is not creating music. He worked at Wipro for over two years, but finally decided to follow another path.
“I had a regular nine to five job which completely drained me and almost killed the creative inside of me. I wouldn’t be able to do anything else that I wanted to once I got back, which is what inspired me to quit,” he says smiling.
From the release of The Alchemist to his solo project Southern Skies Motel, Akash can see a clear cut difference between the two.
“Back then, I was still exploring the field and didn’t know as much. But now I follow a recording technique and have even matured as a person. The music is different too – it is more of progressive and experimental elements while The Alchemist was mostly prost-rock,” explains the musician who is all set to go to Ireland to pursue his interest in audio technology.
“I don’t get along so well with other people mainly because I haven’t studied music and don’t have a professional backing. I also prefer playing my own stuff and find it difficult to improvise on the spot,” says Akash in conclusion, about why he preferred making Southern Skies Motel a solo project.
Akash’s band Farfetch’d, will be performing for the last time on September 1 at BlueFrog.
