When you know you love each other, but no one is ready to confess. Bol Do is a song of confession.
Saby Singh
Listen on Apple Music
The Essence of Expression
Convenience is a major contributor to who we turn out as. As I come from a middle class family, I always had to chose between things I could get and buy growing up. When I came of age, I picked up the guitar and started writing songs, instinctively. My perspective was what could I use the guitar as, sonically; I was never really afraid of making ridiculous creative decisions about music, and that is where I actually found recluse.
I had to take it seriously and decided to become a singer-songwriter, for the lack of equipment and assets. And boy did I really carve a career out for it. But the inside voice kept lingering day in and out.
More than anything, I wanted to produce music. Playing and writing songs on the guitar got monotonous. However, production on the other side, always kept me brimming me ideas and creative challenges. It still does.
Bol Do is an intentional step into the direction, of connecting with the inner kid.
There is an image of me – I write sad and melancholic songs. I never think of it like that, I just write songs with no care if they are sad or happy. For a challenge, I really wanted to push myself into boundaries that were inconsistent with who I thought I was, and this image.
Bol Do is the introduction to that challenge.
sooni si raaho.n pe mera qaayam hai intezar
man raahei.n taaqe baitha hai khoya ye bhi qaraar
in faaslo.n ki misaal ban ke hai qayam qarobar
inhei.n laa.ng lo, ik udaan lo, aao na mere paas
Production
I wanted to make it sound funky and glorious and something I could dance or grove to. It started as a guitar riff and ended up this rhythmic plethora of sonics and elements.
I enjoyed the process of making Bol Do, it was ridiculously tiring and difficult, but after I would bounce and listen to a mix, it was sublimely exciting. All the tiredness and exhaustion would just fade away; maybe that is how you feel when you truly take away all the limitations from yourself. Maybe, this is the essence of expression, after all.
Artwork
Lately, analog collage art has been a true inspiration. There is a sense of release in the destructive part of it, and after trials and error, when you find a meaning and story in the art, it is extremely satisfying.
Although, I don’t like cutting off magazines and ripping them of their vantage, Photoshop is an incredible tool for all things graphic. The picture of red glaring lips on a subtle, black and white image reflects the power of speaking out for me. Whatever you feel, you must find a way to channelise it, either through art or a conversation. An artwork in itself is a conversation of sorts.
Outro
Bol Do signifies the joy of freedom and expression for me. Emotions are really subjective and you cannot stay the same forever. It feels like I am re-defining myself. The old Saby, the melancholic boy is still there but there are more layers and nuances to him now. I am thirty!
I have come to realise that the true essence of expression doesn’t lie in the final product but the freedom you experience during the process. I don’t infer to go all crazy and wild, because sometimes access of resources is paralysing. What I mean is that if you feel like going wild and crazy, you should go about it. Don’t worry about what it will be and how it will sound or look, just enjoy the process.
That is where the real gold is.
08.01.2023
Saby Singh
Lyrics
bol do… bol do…
din bhar teri hi yaadei.n rehti hai.n mere paas
wahid ye aashiq hai koi aur na aaye raas
tu mera pyaar hai, aitbaar hai tu hi iss dil ki diwaar
mujhe thaam lo, apna maan lo mei.n deewaana hua beqaraar
bol do… bolo na kya, hai dil mei.n basa
khol do… wo raasta, ho raabta
sooni si raaho.n pe mera qaayam hai intezar
man raahei.n taaqe baitha hai khoya ye bhi qaraar
in faaslo.n ki misaal ban ke hai qayam qarobar
inhei.n laa.ng lo, ik udaan lo, aao na mere paas
bol do…
Credits
Written, performed and produced by Saby Singh
Artwork by Saby Singh
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