Promising Youngster Sees Ananya Ashok Merge Carnatic Grace With Alt-Pop Sensibilities

Photo Credit: Prasaad KS

Promising Youngster is the intimate and deeply personal debut EP from Ananya Ashok, a singer/songwriter and Carnatic musician based in California. Featuring five airy and atmospheric compositions that beautifully merge South Indian classical traditions with modern alternative pop production, it's a record that thrives on texture and restraint. The way Ananya and producer Denny White have "positioned" the Carnatic throughout the EP is simply genius, and Promising Youngster is quickly turning into one of my favourite releases of the new year.

The EP's title track begins proceedings and gently eases the listener into Ananya's sound. Through indie folk storytelling, it's a tune that allows itself space to breathe and unfold before making way for wonderfully fragile and hypnotic Little Voice, a song I just can't stop returning to.

Unrealized Dreams is Ananya's reflective invitation to mourn the paths not taken, while its successor, Humpty, delivers a magnificent reimagination of the classic childhood nursery rhyme.

First Love completes Promising Youngster, and this is one for you to discover all on your own. All I'll say is this…Ananya Ashok has crafted something genuinely special here. Subtle, thoughtful, elegant, unforgettable!

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