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Strings attached

Last Updated 06 April 2017, 19:40 IST

For Cyril Prince, songs happen when emotions shape themselves through words. The singer-songwriter, who is all set to bring out some singles, feels that music is what makes things go around for him. In a candid chat with Tini Sara Anien, he sheds light on his journey so far.

Your first stint with music...
My grandfather used to encourage me to sing at the church. Till my engineering days, it was all about winning competitions. It was after this that I realised I wanted to become a professional musician. I had some time and I started a band where I interacted with some dedicated musicians. The discipline I saw there is what made me want to continue music seriously.

How did you take it forward?
I realised that I had to take it one step ahead and I had to study about sound engineering, if I wanted to produce songs. I got into teaching at Octavium Music Academy where everyone else was from a different genre and getting along with these varied styles was challenging. Dealing with these challenges is what kept me going.

What made you turn into a singer-songwriter?
Initially, singing was about fun and excitement. But now it is about survival — in a way that I’m emotionally dependent on doing what I do. I’m a singer, guitarist, songwriter and producer and it’s like satisfying four different personalities and progressing ahead. When all these four inner people come together, it’s an unbeatable feeling.

The challenges you faced as a musician...
The challenges include understanding the audience an artiste needs and where one can find them. Even if an artiste finds this audience, the venues or the spaces
have to provide one a slot, which depends on varied factors like the brand name and having contacts. It took me a while to understand that filtering the audience is a gradual process.

A few of your compositions...
‘Grey Life’ was about the relationship between a smoker and the cigarette. I was writing about addictions and I explored this song. I had written ‘Barren War’, which
is about a person who does a job only for the money; he doesn’t like the work or the people there. Another interesting song was ‘Shadows of Memories’ which was a song about breakup.

Your music is influenced by...
I was influenced by ‘Metallica’, ‘Megadeth’, ‘Tool’, ‘Porcupine Tree’ and Steven Wilson initially. At the moment, I am into progressive music and I also like Indian artistes with bands like ‘Avial’ and ‘Thaikkudam Bridge’, and Prateek Kuhad.

What inspires you to pen a song?
It’s extreme emotions that trigger the creative energy in me. I do a lot of self-analysis and my guitar helps me shape what’s going on within me.

Your latest  project...
I’m planning to work on a few singles which will come together as an EP later on. The singles I have worked on include ‘Unwind’,  which is about my relationship with my guitar. I have a very intimate bond with my guitar.

My guitar helps me analyse things. ‘Expectations’ is about expectations from the people around. ‘Sweet Memories’ is about the space in my life.

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(Published 06 April 2017, 14:41 IST)

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