Music brings people together at a time when people are feeling more and more divided, says Kerala Dust’s lead singer

Edmund Kenny, the lead singer of Kerala Dust, is fresh off the heels of a show in Melbourne, which was part of a multi-city tour across the world, promoting the band’s latest album Violet Drive. 

Despite spending several weeks on tour, Kenny, who goes by the name of Ed, appears keen and earnest, jetlag notwithstanding, as he talks to YS Life, over an online meeting, about the origin of Kerala Dust and what makes up the musical act.

The band, whose name pays tribute to Ed’s travels to India, was formed in London in 2016. It comprises Ed on vocals, Lawrence Howarth on the guitar, Pascal Karier on the drums, and Timothy Gardner on the keys. 

In the late 2000s, Ed was among the thousands of partygoers in London, drawing inspiration from the dance music played at parties. 

“There is beauty in dance music, particularly in the repetition … The music unfolds in a way that it becomes an incessant mantra of sorts. [As you’re listening] time takes on a different shape and meaning and, before you know it, it’s 9 in the morning,” he says.

The fascination with dance music prompted Ed and his mates to come together to make music that captivates this sound. 

“As a band, a lot of us love the classics like The Doors, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, The Beatles … So, a lot of our music has inspirations from there as well," says the singer.

Over the years, the band’s music has evolved from its techno roots into sonic sounds that can be best described as an eclectic mix of the familiar jazzy-bluesy tunes and new-age technorama–representing a true amalgamation of the old and the new. 

Putting together Violet Drive

Understandably, the conversation shifts to Violet Drive, the band’s latest creation, comprising six tracks, each with its own theme and messaging and distinct sound. 

For instance, the track Light West, portrays the theme of darkness coexisting with light. Coexistence is a concept the band is familiar with, for the city of Berlin–where the band is currently based in–is where the old continues to coexist with the new.

Longing, exploration, and the search for something greater than oneself are some of the other themes explored in the album. 

The undertones of blues and jazz are uplifted by steady mantra-like club/house music, lending all the tracks in the album a light, dance vibe, despite the deep connotations in the lyrics.

The space between the words and the instrumental music allows listeners to self-reflect and embark upon their own spiritual journey. 

Interestingly, the band members journeyed to the Swiss Alps on a journey of musical discovery and inspiration while recording Violet Drive.  

“We got in the studio in the Swiss Alps and started recording the drums first. This really informed the way the album was written,” says Ed. 

“One of the challenges we faced was trying to understand how to meld the old and the new together in a cohesive manner,” he adds.

The album is visually heavy, with most tracks being accompanied by a short film featuring two lead actors in various settings. The visuals include props, sceneries that parallel the lyrics, and elements like a bonfire and a forest. 

“The fascination with using visual accompaniments for our tracks came from a live film we shot in 2021 called Live West,” explains Ed. 

The film was a product of the band members trying to understand how to best distribute their music, especially as live shows were halted during the pandemic. 

“[In Live West], we took the band to the south of Spain with two actors, and we made this live video that was combined with abstract elements, which were played out over the course of us playing the music. It was partly inspired by Pink Floyd live in Pompeii."

It was around this time when the band met Greg Blakey, a director who later helped put together the visuals for Violet Drive. 

“The visual and audio process went hand in hand,” says Ed. “Maybe in future, we would go and shoot video elements before we start recording an album."

“Our collaboration with Blakey has become really important now … And we’re thinking about different ways to see how the visual can accompany the music," he adds.

With Violet Drive, the band has tried to do away with the fast, choppy cuts associated with modern music videos and have introduced a slower, cinematic style. 

Leaving behind nightclubs

Ed admits that, in some ways, Kerala Dust has shifted focus from playing at nightclubs to live concerts, which offer more flexibility and room for creativity. 

Though Ed still enjoys playing in clubs, he says there are some constraints while playing music at nightclubs. Club music has to be maintained at a fixed tempo and it always requires instruments like kick drums, he says. He also laments people using phones during gigs in clubs.  

“We’ve almost exclusively decided to play concert shows now and not play nightclubs so much anymore … We were writing songs that you couldn’t play in a nightclub. Some songs like Future Vision (which is moody and slow), which is on our last album, you could not be playing something like that at 1 am in a nightclub,” says Ed. 

Ed loves the magic of live performances, which involve understanding the pulse of the audience and grooving with them. Kerala Dust has played nearly 80 live shows this year. 

“I'm realising more and more that making music is about bringing people together as a community at a time where people feel more and more divided and separate. 

“Everyone’s living in their own little phone bubbles and cars. And I think that (live) music can bring people together in a wonderful and safe space,” he says.

The band is now taking Violet Drive across India–Goa, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. You can catch their live performance in Bengaluru this Sunday (November 26).