Rhythm of Love: In conversation with Elysian

‘Elysian’ is a band to look out for. All the way from Kohima, the band came to the limelight with their opening performance at the Musician Guild Award 2021 which took everyone by surprise. They garnered praise  for their performance and have been unstoppable since.

Eastern Mirror catches up with the talented ‘Elysian’ band members, as they share their musical journey in today’s Rhythm of Love.

Eastern Mirror: Could you introduce yourself to our readers?

Elysian: We are Elysian, a pop-punk band from Kohima. On vocals we have Sentiein Kichu, guitars Otanger Jamir, bass Ochi Jamir, and on drums we have Ongpen Yaden.

Eastern Mirror: When and how did you guys decide to form a band?

Elysian: We always had love for music and as friends we jammed and played music often. As we had a great friendship and a deep love for music, it was only recently we decided to form a band and make music together.

Eastern Mirror: Who inspired you to pursue a career in music and who are your favourite musicians?

Elysian:  Music is something we love. A lot of people, including our selves have been the key to our passion for music. And because of this, although all of us are still students, we believe we could turn what were just our hobbies into something we could share with our loved ones. Some of our favourite musicians are Fallout boys, Paramore, Rage against the machine. Just to name a few.

Eastern Mirror: As a young band, where do you guys see ‘Elysian’ 5 years down the line?

Elysian: In five years, as long as we have each other and love what we do, we probably hope we’ll make a good team, make great music, and release different songs and albums to inspire and help younger generations and our music industry, not to impress, but because this is what we love to do.

Eastern Mirror: Among the four of you, who is the ‘go-to guy’ if any issue arises?

Elysian: The go to guy will be our guitarist, Otanger Jamir.

Eastern Mirror:  Who is the lyricist and composer of your music?

Elysian: Mainly the lyrics are written by our vocalist Sentiein and the guitarist Otanger but as for the composition it can be any of us just coming up with small ideas, melodies, groove or any sort of rhythm that we think will be great for the band. We all contribute in the process of composing our songs.

Eastern Mirror: When will ‘Elysian’ release an original song?

Elysian: We are currently working on releasing an EP, which we’ll be releasing very soon. We are in the process of recording some amazing songs, so hopefully it will be released very soon.

Eastern Mirror: What type of songs as a band do you guys prefer to perform?

Elysian: We are open to playing any songs that have good melodic lines and most importantly the music that our listeners will enjoy as we perform. We do love performing songs that are inspiring and songs that speak to our listeners.              

Eastern Mirror: How was the experience of performing the opening song at the Musician Guild awards?

Elysian:  It was something so special and big for us to perform and open up such a great event. To see such great musicians, bands and different artists perform, was something so inspiring to us, also to perform with such great bands and lovely audience was just a great achievement for the band.

Eastern Mirror: Does Elysian incorporate any particular singer’s style in its renditions?

Elysian:  We don’t really go for anything specific, but the one we can reflect on will be Hayley Williams of Paramore.

Eastern Mirror: If you guys weren’t part of ‘Elysian’, which academic/professional career would you have pursued?

Elysian:  We are all still students and we are all into different streams, so there’s nothing we can say about it as of now, however, we’ll still make music together and the band will always perform and carry on, no matter what happens to us next.

Eastern Mirror: Any band from Nagaland that you look up to?

Elysian: There are many great bands from Nagaland that we look up to and love. To name a few Polar lights, Papersky and Trance effect.