Former Oman resident releases first solo music album

Muscat: A former resident of Oman who is currently pursuing his dream of becoming a rock musician has recently released his first solo album.
Prateek Rajagopal, who currently lives and works as a musician in Mumbai, but went to Indian School Ghubra when he was younger, released Scavenger an album which centres on people, and the extent to which they will go to achieve their dreams.
“I’m always fascinated by the unknown, and I wish there was an easy way to unlock our real minds and witness life beyond this menial society,” said Prateek, speaking to Times of Oman. “The album is called Scavenger and I based the album off a song of the same name. The song is about a disgruntled beast that kills people with hopes and dreams in order to survive, much like people these days who don’t care about the consequence of their actions in order to reach where they want to — even if that means stepping over friends and family.
He added, “The genre would be progressive rock/avant-garde/experimental music tending towards darker note choices and uneven, unexpected and progressive song structures. The moods shift anywhere between sad and dark to feel-good/nostalgic. Anyone who’s an ‘adventurous’ music listener should definitely check out the album — it’s the stark opposite of a pop album with one song that’s also 10 minutes long.”
Prateek, who is also a member of death metal band Gutslit, and hires out his services as a music composer for promotional work, took about two years to compile and compose the music for the album, primarily because of the other work commitments he had, as well as the need to be in a creative mood while writing his music, a must for any creative person.
“It took about 2 years to make the album, mostly because of various other commitments in Mumbai,” explained Prateek.
“I generally write songs very fast, but everything else revolving around an album like collaborations, getting assets together, marketing, PR and so on takes the most time and headspace and is the least enjoyable part of the album cycle. But overall, I love being my own boss and doing things myself from planning and executing the music to handling all the business too. It’s what keeps me going and I always learn something along the way!”
He was also happy to share with Times of Oman some of the challenges he’d faced while writing and composing the music, so as to educate other aspiring musicians of what they need to be prepared for, should they wish to do something similar in future.
“The biggest challenge of doing a solo record is that you need to have enough drive and motivation to do every single thing yourself with no help from anybody,” Prateek admitted.
“It’s equally a great feeling because I love doing things myself and conquering my goals, so I cannot complain. Another challenge is that I feel that if I’d put this album out three or four years ago, pushing through the internet might have been easier, and back then I’d have had the inclination to even take the project live.
“Unfortunately now, I just see this as a studio project despite my collaborators being enthusiastic about taking this live,” he revealed.
“It’s also hard to get people to listen to your music in 2019 unless they really care about you, which is good and bad because you can assess your market and make better decisions in the future. Since it’s my first solo album, I have no expectations about the album and it’s important to have no expectations if you’re starting from scratch.”
Prateek has also said that it is important for people to not chase the money that comes from music, but the music itself: once you are capable of writing good, enjoyable music that comes from the heart, the wealth, fame and recognition will follow on its own.