LONG AFTER THE EMPIRE
India-born and Virginia-matured Prabir Mehta leads the Prabir Trio across a bridge from one side of the globe to another in Long After the Empire, his most personal and vibrant album to date.
Each song explores a different location in India, places where normal people live, places where spirituality exists alongside booming capitalism, places where you can’t buy a beer unless you have a non-Indian passport, places where you realize how much you love someone for loving you.
“If you’ve been there, you’ll get it. If you haven’t, let me tell you what it’s like,” says Mehta, who wrote each song in India. He sees the Prabir Trio’s first album, Haanji, as a comment on the immigrant experience, but Long After the Empire as a map of the bridges and rivers that connect the pieces — and people — of his life together.
“Rishikesh” depicts a nighttime journey across a very literal suspension bridge, connecting the ancient and modern parts of the city. Spiritualism comes back again in “Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva,” but in a rowdier way, imagining India’s holy trinity by way of a party (video forthcoming). “You Can’t Drink In Ahmedabad” gets to the heart of being the only person who can legally buy alcohol for the rest of your family, thanks to your US passport, and “Prayer Song” closes out the album by wishing well and giving thanks to everything from water to heroes to friends. Mehta’s heart is most vulnerable when he’s back again on Rishikesh’s bridge, this time with his wife, watching her acclimate to the wild world around her in “Any Way You Want Me.”
For the first time, Mehta sings in three languages: English, Gujarati, and Hindi. And in the true spirit of the album, the American contingent of the band was game to learn.
If lyrics are Long After the Empire’s experiential bridge, the album’s music is the river running beneath it. The Trio created a rich musical portrait to illustrate the connectivity between east and west by adding new layers to its signature sound. The band’s hook-laden rock and roll suffused with Indian elements includes layered use of tanpura drones and harmoniums and Prudhvi Meda joins on mridanga as well. For this album and the live shows to follow, Mehta is joined by Kelli Strawbridge on drums, Jeremy Flax on bass, and Kenneka Cook on harmony vocals and tambourine.
“The western world is used to harmonic motion,” says Mehta. “But raga uses melodic and rhythmic motion to keep the listener interested. And the backing band still keeps it rooted in rock and roll.”
Prabir Mehta has fronted Richmond, Virginia-based bands such as Prabir and the Substitutes and Goldrush, spending the last 20 years touring the nation in venues of all shapes and sizes, from neighborhood bars to midsize music halls to festival stages. After making his own mark on the East Coast music scene, Prabir is ready to rock whatever comes next.
God's Song single:
God, what a topic. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll are still common in music, but occasionally other topics find their way into melodies and hooks. Richmond, VA’s Prabir Trio has seen the light of inspiration and created a song to share with the world. God’s Song is a light hearted look at humanity’s relationship to old world religious expectations. The song is a story about God (not a specific God, but any god) making a return to Earth after a long time away. The song goes on to take the listener through God’s thoughts of humanity’s various impacts on creation. The environment, hierarchy, corporate greed, politics, technological ethics, and even religious leaders themselves are all brought to God’s attention as the bouncy rock song progresses. Through groovy beats, sitar solos, and catchy hooks, the song delivers this divine conundrum to listeners and hopefully leaves something to think about. There is no conclusion, no resolution, no judgment, just awareness.
Each candle comes with a QR code on it’s label so you can download “God’s Song” and add it to your collection!
NOW AVAILABLE!
Shockoe Records:
https://www.shockoerecords.com/store/p/prayercandle
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4NHP48Uq7dl31TiZz9lX0b?si=1c5e616f520f4dc8
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/gods-song-single/1731368044
THE HOURGLASS SESSIONS EP IS OUT NOW!
We are thrilled to have worked with the crew at Hourglass Sessions to put out this live EP. Three songs from our live performance we did with them this spring. Big thanks to Rich Stine for the mix, Rosequartz Mastering for the mastering, and Harry Slater for the beautiful art work! Get your ears wrapped around this by visiting our bandcamp: https://prabir.bandcamp.com/album/prabir-trio-hourglass-sessions-live-ep
We'll be taking this EP on the road with us for a few shows as well:
Sept 2 - Richmond, VA - Gallery5 - Mother India art opening
Sept 4 - Floyd, VA - Floyd Yoga Jam
Oct 20 - Washington, DC - The Palisades Hub - Diwali Show!
Oct 21 - Richmond, VA - Hardywood Brewery - Diwali Show!
As always find us on social @PrabirRVA and let's explore the vastness.
NOW AVAILABLE!
Bandcamp:
https://prabir.bandcamp.com/album/prabir-trio-hourglass-sessions-live-ep
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1JWWwhPwwvsOzKHkeuzfqJ
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/hourglass-sessions-live-single/1636127686
Prabir Trio Blends Indian Immigrant and American upbringing on debut LP, HAANJI.
Diverse, forward-thinking album tells the story of frontman’s immigration from India to Virginia by blending elements of Indian music into hook-laden rock and roll.
Haanji, the full-length debut from Prabir Trio, is a border-crossing record that blurs the boundaries between American rock & roll and Indian traditions. Influenced by alt-rock, classic British pop, Indian rāgas, garage grooves, and frontman Prabir Mehta's relocation from India to the USA as a wide-eyed 8 year old, it's an album about the personal evolution that many immigrants go through.
For Prabir, that evolution was catalyzed by music. Uprooted from his childhood home and transplanted to Richmond, Virginia, he fell in love with the guitar-driven sounds of the FM radio. Western music helped acclimate him to western ideals. It helped him understand his new world. Decades later, he remains a man caught between cultures, proudly based in Richmond — where Haanji was recorded at Virginia Moonwalker Studio, using the same soundboard once owned by iconic local venue The Flood Zone — yet still devoted to the family members and customs of his native India, too.
Joined by bandmates Kelli Strawbridge, Kenneka Cook, and Russell Lacy, Prabir funnels that unique perspective into Haanji. These songs find room not only for electric guitar, four-part vocal harmonies, and raw rock & roll, but also sitar, tanpura, his mother's harmonium, and his father's tablas. Gluing those ingredients together is the autobiographical songwriting of a frontman who recalls taking his first steps on US soil ("Immigrant Song"), learning about his newly-adopted home ("America"), discovering rock and roll ("Silverchair"), finding a place in his community ("Bamboo"), and falling in love along the way ("Sally Please"). It's a coming-of-age chronicle with a bicultural twist, filled with songs that are as unique as Prabir's own experience.
A longtime champion of Richmond's arts community, Mehta has spent the better part of two decades working with outlets like NPR's Morning Edition, the Richmond Symphony, the Science Museum of Virginia, and his own Gallery 5 non-profit organization. He's spent much of that time onstage, too, fronting the critically-acclaimed power-pop act Prabir & The Substitutes before merging the worlds of indie-rock and classical music with the band Goldrush. To him, music has always been more than an art form. It's the mechanism by which he — and human society as a whole — has grown and progressed.
Haanji highlights that progression, taking listeners on a journey from Prabir's youth to the present day.
NOW AVAILABLE!!!
Bandcamp:
https://prabir.bandcamp.com/merch
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/haanji/1562537675
Stream on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2Rm6eWoAAv3CauGe4GmMP7?si=ADTEYrEFQNSfJJxforFmuQ
VIDEOS! Check it out, the America video,
watch it, love it, share it, be it!
I'm celebrating Diwali by releasing SLOWLY.
This is a song I wrote while in India a few years back, but I could never think of the final line to sum it all up. As I was leaving India and getting in my final hang with my grandmother, the topic of impermanence, her old age, and the pace of life came up. We chatted on how the world is moving at a faster and faster pace. I told her things need to get done quickly to ensure a better life for many. She pointed out that somethings should not be rushed though. I asked her for an example and she said (in translation from Gujarati) "I will love you slowly." Loving someone should not be rushed according to my grandmother. Cherish and simmer the love between each other slowly as the world moves on more quickly by the day. I miss my grandmother Hansa bhen every time I visit India, but her inspiration and dharmic presence appears anytime this song is hummed, sung, streamed, or performed live. I could not be more excited to share this one with you all.
SLOWLY will be released this Diwali weekend. Jai Ho and let love guide the way....quickly or slowly.
FRESH OFF THE BOARDS!
The new BAMBOO single is dope and my tortured love song about one of my favorite places on Earth. Kelli, Russell, and I have spent a lot of time at this spot and has become a part of our local regular experiences. If you ever come visit Richmond be sure to stop by the best bar and musical scene hang in town folks!
Enjoy the "Bamboo" song my friends!
The Small Town Blues EP is available everywhere! Check it out on Spotify, itunes, Amazon, and beyond!
This is the first recording with the trio. Many songs were recorded at the Virginia Moonwalker studio by our own Russell Lacy and these four made the cut for the first release. They are gritty, upbeat, hook laden, and ready for your ears. Kelli Strawbridge and Russell Lacy's performances bring these songs to life with a pulse that drives them onward beat by beat, second by second. Once the songs were completed they were given to Nashville mega audio freak, Linwood Regensberg for mixing and the finishing touches. Ed Brooks in Seattle gave these recordings a mastering to make them pop off your speakers. Brent McCormick's trippy art work wraps up the record to bring some visual flavor to what the audio has captured. I'm very proud of this set of songs and hope you get a chance to dig into them. We'll be playing a ton of shows in support of this release so stay tuned, watch for the bat-signal, and always let love guide.
Looking forward to seeing you at the next show!
