Second Sight Build a Musical Reef on Debut Album ‘Coral'

The Mumbai duo’s first LP has tracks that excite, deliver somber moments and pull at heartstrings

DAVID BRITTO

WHEN MUMBAI SINGER-SONGWRITER duo Second Sight—consisting of musicians Anusha Ramasubramoney and Pushkar Srivatsal—released their debut four-track EP The Violet Hour in 2018, their idea was to score some gigs. “That’s the only reason, so we have something to show,” says Srivatsal. The plan worked and gigs came aplenty for the duo as well as for their full band sets. Now, the musicians have released a follow-up, their 10-track full-length debut album Coral.

Second Sight began work on Coral in 2019, and although the pandemic did slow things down, they powered through to complete the record. “We said, ‘Let’s try doing everything ourselves and if it works, it works,’” says Srivatsal. The duo tells us that some songs on the record date back to five years ago and have gone through their own evolution. Ramasubramoney says, “The songs have grown quite a bit.”

When it comes to songwriting, Ramasubramoney and Srivatsal usually write together. The pair explain that this is one of the reasons they take a while to finish a song. Srivatsal says in jest, “We’re not like those bands where we have 40 songs to choose from and pick the best 10, we have only 10 [laughs].” Ramasubramoney adds, “And we polish them till they have to be put out.”