ESHAAN: "I Used to See Myself in the Future A Lot"

Western Sydney musician ESHAAN released his debut single ‘Back to the Future’ in July 2022. The light-footed electronic pop song was informed by ESHAAN’s affection for queer pop artists Troye Sivan and Tove Lo and the indie pop sounds of CXLOE and ASHWARYA.

ESHAAN was born in Sydney in 1999, the child of Indian-Punjabi parents. Now based in the Blacktown area, ESHAAN will be performing at the Albion Hotel, Parramatta, this month alongside ZPLUTO and Shanae for SOUND WEST’s Ones to Watch showcase. Music Feeds spoke to ESHAAN about his background, influences, and ‘Back to the Future’.

ESHAAN – ‘Back to the Future’

Music Feeds: What sort of presence did music have in your house growing up?

ESHAAN: It was a lot of my mum just listening to music when she was cooking and stuff, so the musical presence in my house wasn’t that big. All my family, their origins are like chefs and stuff. I kind of just took a turn to the right and I was like, “Yeah, see ya,” and I went to music. But I was always listening to indie music and stuff.

MF: When you started to realise you wanted to pursue music, who were the big artists for you?

ESHAAN: Early on it was a lot of LGBTQIA+ artists. So, like your Troye Sivan, Fletcher, Tove Lo, with a little bit of your mainstream artists, like your Ariana Grande – very female-driven. But then towards the end of my schooling career, I kind of turned a bit alt. And then now I’m listening to a lot of alt with some pop stuck into there. But primarily alternative, indie kind of music.

MF: Can you give me some examples? What do you regard as alternative?

ESHAAN: Well, a lot of alt-pop, so like your CXLOE, ASHWARYA, and then also dance as of late, for some reason. So, like your RÜFÜS DU SOL, Crooked Colours, Dom Dolla. It’s just a mixed pot of things. My playlists are so weird.

MF: Before the pandemic, how active were you in music? Were you performing?

ESHAAN: Before Covid, I didn’t have a music career. When I finished school, I went into uni. It didn’t end up working out so then I switched over to a business degree. So I was just working through that. And then through Covid 2020, I didn’t do anything. And just before Covid 2021, I made my first track. So, it’s kind of all just come to fruition in the last year.

MF: What happened in 2021 that drove you to start making music?

ESHAAN: I met someone, who is now a friend, and they had a friend who was an A&R for Sony and I was like, “Yeah, sick, let’s send them something, see if there’s actually any gold in this mine of ESHAAN.” So then I made a track with my producer, Dominik Dale, and I sent it to [the Sony A&R rep] and he kind of just ghosted – he never responded.

I was like, I might just release it just to see the response, and then I emailed it to a bunch of companies and my manager reached out and was just like, “This is sick, let’s work together.”

MF: Tell me about ‘Back to the Future’ and why it was chosen as your debut single.

ESHAAN: Well, ‘Back to the Future’ for me was one of the most important tracks in my body of work. It represented how I felt for the past three years before music kind of happened, and even during music, in lockdown and working with my manager and stuff. It just represented seeing myself in a perfect place and how easily that can all be taken away.

The only way I could relate it to that sense was through my dreams. Everyone has a dream where you’re, like, in a mansion with a hundred dogs and a giant pool and then you wake up and it’s ripped away. So, for me, I used to see myself in the future a lot, of how life around me would be, and then I’d wake up and it’d all get ripped away. So, that’s pretty much what ‘Back to the Future’ was to me.

MF: Will it be more singles after this? An EP?

ESHAAN: We’re releasing my follow up single in September and then we’ve got an EP, which is due out next year at some point, I’d say the first half of the year. It’s a very conceptual piece of work, so by releasing ‘Back to the Future’, it was the first little taste of what it could be.

This next track we’re releasing is a very different kind of track. It’s not as slow and vibey. It’s more upbeat and bit more of a powerful track. It’ll be a really cool contrast.

ESHAAN joins ZPLUTO and Shanae at SOUND WEST’s Ones to Watch showcase on Thursday, 25th August at Albion Hotel, Parramatta. Entry is free.