Having nurtured his independent music initiative, AT Azaad, for three years alongside making music for films and OTT projects, composer Amit Trivedi is in a happy space. He’s looking forward to his upcoming trance album, Songs Of Trance 2 (SOT 2), which, he says, is “my interpretation of the genre”.

Trivedi shares, “When the lockdown happened, I created music at home to keep my sanity going. After working on two albums — Songs of Faith and Songs of Dance — I came up with Songs of Trance - One. It did really well, which encouraged me to come up with SOT 2. This album has six songs. I started working on it almost a year ago.”

For Trivedi, making something unique and challenging is imperative and he’s glad that besides indie music, he gets to do the same in the film space.

“Most of my film music also has an indie sound. That’s because of the taste and sensibilities that I’ve developed over the years. I have been fortunate to be exposed to different styles of music from across the globe. We are a lucky generation that we have access to world music at our fingertips. It’s opening up minds and helping in creating diverse and hybrid varieties of music,” shares the National Film Award-winning musician. However, he admits that “working on indie music has made me a happier artiste”.

He explains, “I love the freedom that non-film music offers. I can go all out with creativity. Music aisa banana hai ki mazaa bhi aaye aur impact bhi ho. AT Azaad is like going back to the roots, to the days when I would perform with my band. But the recognition I have earned by doing film music has really helped me push my non-film music too.”

While creating independent music is like a breeze for him, marketing it on his own, without the support of any brand, is tough. “The big thing about making independent music is that you have to self-fund it. Bahut paise lagaane padte hain gaane banane mein, video banane mein aur aaj kal toh usse bhi zyaada paise aur energy daalni padti hai proper marketing karne mein. Gaana chala toh theek, nahin toh total loss,” Trivedi signs off.