Your Friend Nirantha is the artist nom de plume of Arizona veteran musician Nirantha Balagopal. After over a decade playing in bands in Tucson and Phoenix, in 2020, she moved to Denver and stopped making music to focus on being a Mom. This summer, she got back to making music, and this new project – Desire Path – was the resulting fruit of her labour. Rather unusually, each of the songs on this EP is built around a single guitar loop, with the songs building around the base and evolving over time.
It starts with the booming, bassy drums of The Subsect. A sense of foreboding creeps over you as you wait for the hammer to fall. But it never comes. Instead, we’re met with a sweet female vocal that lies somewhere between Lykke Li and Sara Wolff. An alt-folk arrangement pairs with the mammoth percussion, and the juxtaposition is beguiling. The gargantuan thumping and the understated guitar loop – and the many and varied elements that encircle them – blend together to make a glorious noise. We’re reminded of the epic work of Dominie Hooper and Anna Calvi – such is the conviction and ferocity of the instrumentation. Bordering on alt-rock by the time the first song ends, it sets out its stall as adventurous and individualistic perfectly, and it continues as it began.
Sunshine starts with solo bassy guitar notes. The growth in the song structure here is organic and compelling. We’re reminded of slowcore legends Low before that syrupy vocal is introduced. On this track, we’re reminded of some of the vocal work of Sucré frontwoman and Eisley founding member Stacy King. Sunshine is undeniably cute but also more than a little bit creepy – in kind of the same way that The Nightmare Before Christmas is. That is to say, it’s extremely endearing, characterful and engaging.
The last track, Mystery, is even sweeter-sounding than the two that preceded it. It’s the sparsest composition so far and also the shortest. Crystalline keys and occasional walking basslines are about as busy as it gets, and the space between the instruments leaves plenty of room for Nirantha’s vocals to really shine.
Written by Kinda Grizzly
