Akangjungla
Dimapur | August 17
Love is multidimensional. We all experience it differently. Some in happy moments, while some through loss and grief…
The latest song by Abdon Mech featuring Zuchobeni Tungoe tilted ‘Always Be’ opens with these lines as they take the listeners on a journey of untainted delight. Since the song premiered on YouTube channel last Thursday, it has garnered over 1 lakh views, a testament on its own of its distinction. Written and composed by Abdon Mech, it is performed by Abdon Mech and Zuchobeni Tungoe.
Persuaded by the lyrical composition and the brilliant story-telling production, The Morung Express had conversations with the people behind the creation of ‘Always Be.’
Love is multidimensional
In its essence, the song is about how love is multidimensional. It is about how the human experience enables different people to experience love differently - some in happy moments while others through loss and grief, explains Abdon Mech as the central theme of the song.
“I think generally the concept of love is always one sided and so we wanted to challenge ourselves for this one and show it in a different light,” he said.
Abdon rules out any personal story behind the song as he said, “I don’t think it is directly influenced by my personal experience. Honestly, when I wrote it initially, it was just another song that I wrote as part of my daily routine. I think the inspiration quite oddly, came only once the process began and not before.”
He adds, “By that I mean, from starting as a regular song that I wrote, it gradually picked up pace and showed me and the team the potential it had to be something bigger once production began.”
Finding the heroes of the song
Technically ‘Always Be’ involved a large production team to bring out the final result. The audio was mixed, mastered and co-composed by Kevi Pucho; produced by Kevi Pucho and Abdon Mech; recorded at Element Indie Records; and the video was directed and shot by Sanen Kichu; produced by San Production; co-directed by Kevi Pucho and Abdon Mech; set designed by Imagi.nation; Gaffer and AC: Tiachuba and Merenlong.
Talking about the creative process of the whole production, Abdon says that he took the demo of the duet with Zuchobeni to Kevi Pucho at Element Indie Records and that is where the game changed.
“Sonically speaking, Kevi is the hero of the song. He believed in how big the song could be, bigger than how Zucho and I saw it from a production perspective. His energy was infectious and I knew I could trust him with the song. We layered a total of around 150 tracks for the song that I guess speaks for itself,” he stated.
For the video production, Abdon took the song to Sanen Kichu at San Production. “…just like Kevi, he immediately saw how big the video could be visually. He pitched the idea of bringing multiple characters and showing the concept of love from their varied perspectives and I thought it was absolutely brilliant.”
“The inspiration for the song that we have now came through the process and not before… From pre-productions to release, the entire thing took us around 15 months to finish,” Abdon added.
Massive yet seamless production
An important aspect of ‘Always Be’ was different teams working towards the same purpose. Abdon says that the experience “was brilliant.” It is evident from the video that the production crew was massive. “The biggest I have ever worked with. We had a total of around 60 people, which is massive for an independent project,” Abdon says.
“All of them were top job professionals,” he avowed while adding, “The set designing were done by Imagi.nation who are some of the most dedicated and professional people I have been working with for the last four years. Lighting was done by Headlight Kohima and they nailed it. Lights were an absolute integral part of the vision we had in mind and they got it right, to say the least.” Some other partners like Dough Re Me Bakes and Highland Dawn Media helped in the production.
Abdon says that he was quite overwhelmed at first thinking about managing all the different teams but once production started, everyone knew their jobs and the entire process were seamless.
On challenges part, Abdon feels it had to be definitely the schedule. “I was working with some of the busiest people in Nagaland lol,” he quips while acknowledging that they are all creative professionals working everyday so it was challenging to get everyone’s schedule to match.
“For the video, what started out as a project to commence by December last year happened only late spring this year. But I believe it was for the better, I’m absolutely delighted with what we have now,” he conveyed.
Mentioning about the overwhelming response and reactions to the song, Abdon says there is always that side as an artist where you’re quite doubtful and nervous. ‘For some reason, you’re never satisfied and that is normal I guess,’ he said.
“But there was a bigger part of me which absolutely believed in how big the song could be… The entire team genuinely poured out their best because they all believed in the project. So just bouncing off their energy, I felt we were on to something for this one,” Abdon shared.
“To everyone involved, from the drivers and the food caterers to the post-production teams, they are the true heroes of this project,” he added.
What’s next?
Abdon also revealed the plan to do a tour soon. “We have been extensively working the last couple of months to put something together, but as an independent artist it’s always difficult logistically and financially to pull off a tour. Regardless, we are still digging deep and trying to find partners/sponsors to work with. Hopefully we’ll have some news soon.”
As for music, no album this year but a bunch of songs before December ends. “That’s guaranteed,” he announced and added that productions and even post-productions for some of them are underway.
The making of ‘Always Be’
In continuance to the conversation with the writer, composer and singer Abdon Mech, The Morung Express also interacted with few others on their experience of working on ‘Always Be.’
Femina Miss India Nagaland 2020, Zuchobeni Tungoe who sang the duet with Abdon briefly shared about her journey with ‘Always Be.’
Zuchobeni recollected that when Abdon first shared the idea, he ‘seemed positive and happy’ about the project and she immediately said yes even before she heard the song.
The team that we have formed through this project is immaculate; she attested saying, “The best team that I have ever had to experience working with.”
Weaving the Visuals
Sanen Kichu of San Production who directed and shot the visuals of ‘Always Be’ says that from the first, he knew this video had to be big.
“I really wanted the video to be able to connect with a lot of people. Initially, we had the plan of making it into a love story, but we finally decided to make it into a video where we portray the different phase of life with the different struggles and happiness that one go through in life,” he disclosed.
“We really felt this idea will connect with a lot of people, and that is where we had the opportunity to work with a lot of talents both young and old who totally nailed it on the production set,” Sanen added.
For Sanen also this project was ‘kind of a first when it comes to collaboration with a lot of different teams indifferent departments.’ He confessed that he was ‘sceptical and nervous at first,’ but as the shooting started, the whole production went smoothly since everyone on the set had their own responsibility. “I had to care less about what was going on the other side and concentrate more on what I had to do next.”
Creating the Sound
“The first time when I heard it (demo), I really loved it and Abdon being Abdon his lyrics always gets you instantaneously and his singing really hits you hard right in the feels,” shares Kevi Pucho, Music Producer & Proprietor of Element Indie.
He approached Abdon with the idea to do “something huge sonically because the song on its own speaks so much volume.” Pucho who mixed, mastered and co-composed the song says, “It made me think real big in terms of musicality which btw he did agree, hence, the whole orchestration and all the details came into play.”
“With all that said and done, I think we made a pretty solid song with all the best resourceful people in the making,” he asserted.
Working in this song, Pucho says it was a ‘fun filled experience.’ “We knew exactly how to go about on producing the music and with so many super talented people at your disposal there is hardly any room for hurdles to tackle.”
However, he mentioned that time factor was a challenge. “With so many people involved who are already well established in their own rights, it gets hard to be organised as to figure out the recording dates.”
On the whole production process, he explains, ‘once I listen to the demo I try visualising musically in my head and get a notion on how the end product should sound like.’
He adds, “given the fact, Abdon giving me the creative freedom on this project, I went bonkers with my imagination but ofcourse, I did my research and thorough study on the music I wanted to portray for this song. Thankfully, Abdon with his open mind did see the vision all along plus all the musicians and the singers delivered 100% fully satisfying performance that not only made the process smooth but very rewarding at the end.”
Read more:
