“Creating [the EP] was like an antidote to the uncertainty and stress the pandemic brought about”

shaping tool, this one usually sits on my instrument busses, but I also sometimes use it as a return. Its multi-band features allow for an infinite variety of applications.”

To the music

That’s the gear in the Sandunes studio and the resulting music is just as wide ranging, all stemming from a philosophy that also tends to shift. Sanaya explains the current Sandunes way of thinking.

“Recently, the way I think about ‘listening’ has changed. Not only as a key facet within the world of music and production, but as something that connects us to our environments, to each other and to ourselves. I’ve been working to bring more mindful and deep listening into my music making spaces, but also outside of those spaces.

“We’re an extremely visual culture,” she continues, “and the last few years have only heightened for me the potential that activated listening hosts. So I suppose, in a way, my approach is one that prioritises the sort of listening that makes me feel extremely present, intentioned and engaged.”

And how does this translate into the actual songwriting process?

“I’m a pianist, so it’s very rare that I start by building beats or grooves,” Sanaya reveals. “Mostly it will be a chord progression on a synth, and then either a full arrangement for different parts – verses/choruses and bridges. Or I’ll build various loops – musical building blocks which I then move around with a lean and barebones synth version of the tune to build an arrangement. More recently bass has been the second element to hold it together and then I add drums and percussion.”

We’re guessing though, with such a diverse sound, that there are no characteristic

Sandunes production processes. Well actually…

“I usually have various ‘ghost kicks’ playing different rhythms through my project,” she explains, “like some on the downbeat, some less frequently depending on what the synths are doing, and I sidechain different elements – if ever so slightly – so they have different rhythmic pulsations. This I find creates a polyrhythmic feel for syncopated and layered synth parts, even if the effect is very subtle and can’t be heard too audibly.”

Creativity from uncertainty

As we have touched upon, the most recent Sandunes release, Nowhere To Stand, was born out of the last year and a half of studio confinement, as Sanaya adds: “It’s a piece of my heart and creating it was like an antidote to the uncertainty and stress the pandemic brought with it. It features the vocalists Half Waif, Sid

Sriram, Landslands and Ramya Pothuri. It’s been wonderful to work with voice again, after a really long period of creating instrumental music. My production process has shifted from loop-oriented music to a more songwriting approach so that vocalists have room to create, which has been a refreshing change. Although most collaborations unfolded remotely in the pandemic, it really feels like the artist is in the room with you when their voice is playing through your speakers.”

Sanaya’s next project, perhaps unsurprisingly, looks set to shift those sands again: “It’s a piano music album,” she explains, “within the world of electronics and featuring a horn section, which we’re currently finishing mixing. There will also be more pop-leaning electronic music featuring voice and more collaborations!” The EP Nowhere To Stand is out now