Born in London to parents, who immigrated from India and Kenya, the rising British chamber pop/psych pop artist Saint Kochi has led an extraordinary and unusual life, that for a while got in the way of his real lifetime aim — to make music his entire life, not a part of it. There was so much that occupied his time: a flirtation with genuine stardom as a professional cricket player, parents who doubted hat anyone could survive with a career in the arts, and an unexpected career as a seller of massive ships.
Saint Kochi continued to push forward with his lifelong dream of making music, releasing last year’s self-titled debut EP. Building upon the growing buzz of his debut EP, the British chamber pop and psych pop artist’s Dom Ganderton co-produced sophomore EP Almost Lost is slated for an August 10, 2022 release. Almost Lost reportedly is a bold-step forward for Saint Kochi as he crafts gorgeous music meant to transport the listener to another place.
So far I’ve written about two of the EP’s singles:
- “Almost Lost,” a cinematic track that brought The Beatles, Scott Walker, The Verve, and JOVM mainstays POND to mind — but while possessing an enormous sound, the song is rooted in intimate and lived-in lyricism that’s personal yet universal.
- “Out of Time,” a single that features a gorgeous string arrangement paired with a sumptuous bass line, boom bap-like drums, twinkling bursts of keys and Saint Kochi’s plaintive cooing. And much like its immediate predecessor, the widescreen vibes are rooted in intimate, lived-in experience.
Almost Lost‘s latest single, “Lifeline” continues a run of cinematic and swooning, orchestral pop rooted in personal yet universal experience. In the case of “Lifeline,” the desire to connect with another person, who understands you and is there for you during the most tumultuous and difficult periods and struggles of your life.
“Lyrically I think for me its about the importance of finding connections with people and a feeling of we are all in this together and if we can be there for each other, we can collectively get through and past whatever struggles we find along the way…” Saint Kochi explains in press notes.
While primarily recorded at Saint Kochi’s purpose-built basement studio, the string arrangement performed by the 14-piece string section was recorded at RAK Studios, where iconic albums like Radiohead‘s The Bends and a lengthy list of others was recorded. The string section fulfilled the rising British artist’s ambition of “making a record that had these big cinematic James Bond, Beatleseque type of strings on them.”
