THE PHILOSOPHER'S SONG

In his new album, singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad ventures on an exploration of the dark corners of his mind

- ANJULY MATHAI

To belong is one of the deepest longings of the human soul. The pain you experience when you do not is difficult to articulate, as the deepest emotions often are. One of the best ways to do it is through poetry, because poets don’t try to explain, they only try to describe. Prateek Kuhad does it beautifully in his song, ‘Favourite Peeps’, from his latest album, The Way That Lovers Do. “My fire is strong, but sometimes I leap/ Into the pits of imaginary slumps…. Don’t know what I have, but I want what I don’t/ May slip-slit my wrist with a call on my phone,” he sings. The rough texture of the lyrics conveyed in his silky-soft voice is a potent combination, alchemising his pain into a kind of inchoate pull within you. Like the best songs, ‘Favourite Peeps’ forms a conveyor belt of emotions, and like the best poetry, it could have a meaning for you that it never did for him.

“Most of my songs have aspects of my own life in them, so it usually ends up coming from a real place,” says Kuhad. “That is the case with ‘Favourite Peeps’. I have dealt with social anxiety and depression many times over the years. It comes in phases. There have been months together when I have felt very low. It is so emotionally overwhelming that it affects you at a physical level. Every time I go through it, I have a core group of friends and family who are always there for me. This song just ended up talking up about that.”