Chitra - Chitra

Chitra is the debut EP from Australian indie folk singer songwriter Chitra, released in February 2020 via Our Golden Friend.

At the age of only twenty-two, Melbourne’s Chitra squeezes the juice out of folk, indie-rock and pop and turns it into a zesty new taste of woozy intimacy in her debut self titled EP.

Singer-songwriter Chitra Ridwan shines, mastering her unique sound that refuses to conform to one specific genre - gleaning elements from across a musical canvas while her timeless voice anchors her songs firmly in the present.

Chitra’s songs capture the candid and lived in space of in-betweenness of an old soul growing up and navigating the present with an observant and cuttingly self-aware lens. Each song offers a vulnerable new insight, individually and collectively weaving a complex narrative. Her love of 1950s and 1960s girl groups like The Supremes and The Shirelles shines through on the production and vocal performance as well as influences from modern day heroes such as Molly Burch, Angel Olsen and Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief.

Chitra’s debut Self Titled EP was recorded with new collaborators Dylan Young (Way Dynamic, Emma Russack, Snowy Band) on guitar and piano, Lehman B Smith (Totally Mild, Grand Salvo) on bass and Maria Moles (Jaala, Mild Life, Doroth) on drums. With the band and production team emerging from different backgrounds, each bringing their own musical language to the table. Chitra braved the highly vulnerable process to capture each specific feeling in its entirety through collaboration, trial and error and embarking on unexpected avenues of discovery for a formerly solo artist.

The EP was recorded over a week in enchanting Mount Macedon with producer James Cecil, founding member of beloved Australian band Architecture In Helsinki who has previously worked with The Goon Sax, Elizabeth, The Orbweavers, Time For Dreams and many others.

Chitra’s effortlessly cool energy and endearing magnetism emerges from her definiteness to remain wholly herself in her writing and music, making work that is deeply grounded in the honesty of her day to day. She represents a strong and free-thinking creative emerging within Australian culture that strives for creative authenticity rather than conventional milestones of the past.

This 12” EP is on translucent red coloured vinyl with a printed inner sleeve, pressed in Australia via Our Golden Friend.