Ashwin Mandoth and Vivek Kiran, two Kannada indie music composers will be releasing their song titled, ‘Neenillade’ on October 6. Neenillade means ‘without you,’ in Kannada and the song justifies this feeling of absence through its lyrics and music. Having worked on this particular track for over a year, the two musicians have a lot to say about the process behind its production.

“I am releasing this song after a gap of two-and-a-half years. We used to practice for six to eight hours daily, apart from live performances,” says Ashwin. “Though I have released three songs with multiple collaborators before, releasing ‘Neenillade’ after such a long gap feels like my debut.”

For both Ashwin and Vivek, the journey began in childhood when they were forced to learn the keyboard and guitar, respectively. What began as monotonous private classes has now evolved into full-fledged careers with collaborations and milestones for each of them.

“It is quite important to figure out your sound as an artiste,” says Ashwin, talking about the gap years. Today, he says they have material that will keep them engaged till the end of 2028. Their goal is to bring Kannada indie music to the global stage.

Ashwin, who has been performing since 2016, has over 250 shows to his credit and has opened for artistes such as Jonita Gandhi. He was selected as one of the artistes to perform in Manchester at the India-UK RhythmXchange Music Festival.

Vivek, apart from helming his band Table for Four, has also worked with some of the well-known names in the music industry, performing alongside Kunal Ganjawala, Usha Uthup and Mame Khan. His most cherished collaboration, he says, was with the late singer Zubeen Garg on his song, ‘Beetein Saare Pal’.

Ashwin calls ‘Neenillade’ his favorite song. Beyond producing this piece, for Ashwin there was a great joy in collaborating with his best friend.

Vivek says, “This song is about losing the important people in our life, in any kind of relationship. We have lived through our share of absences, and been through occasions when we have had to let go of a person. This is about translating that absence in a song.”

For both artistes, the song is deeply emotional and they say the essence of ‘Neenillade’ is quiet, even though it is heavily driven by music. Vivek adds, “The pain is so intense it requires that kind of sound with distorted guitar, and heavy strings.” They believe the song will resonate with audiences across the world musically, even if not lyrically.

‘Neenillade’ was written by Rakesh Kumar, “an underrated yet great lyricist,” according to Vivek. Ashwin’s student Gaana Samskruth helped compose a section of the pre chorus, and Vivek’s brother Deepak Kiran played the drums. Dhruva MB was the additional programmer and music supervisor for the track.

‘Neenillade’ will be released across digital music platforms on October 6. More details on @ashwin.mandoth on Instagram.