Rising San Francisco-based DJ and producer, AIR APPARENT, shares his long-awaited debut LP, Chromatic, out everywhere now, including the latest single, "Razor" featuring Meredith Bull. The bright and bouncy 12 tracks build an uplifting dreamscape featuring appearances from vocalists like Constance, Kcdeeya, GESS, Ellie Jones, and more.
The debut album from AIR APPARENT, the musical moniker of Indian-American dance musician Neil Sethi, is a splashy, vibrant fusion of ‘80s funk, electronic dance music with soaring R&B/pop hooks that chronicles the highs and lows of a romantic relationship. Chromatic is a buoyant, kaleidoscopic collection that puts AIR APPARENT's range as a musician on full display as he wrote more of the melodies and lyrics than ever before. It's a dynamic, dreamy fantasy that imagines summer lasts all year long, and transcends traditional boundaries of genre, carving a path to something greater.
“I wanted to play on the idea that electronic music doesn’t have to be one thing. It can be stretched and smeared in different directions,” Sethi says of Chromatic. “The title refers to me expressing my vision of electronic music in a range of different colors, just how you can take a human experience and find 25 different angles and narratives within it.” As Sethi brings listeners into new soundscapes, he discovers more of himself. "The act of creating is often the best way for me to get to know myself,” Sethi says. “Even when making instrumentals, certain words start popping out, and I find that they were parts of me that I hadn’t expressed.”
The project features the spectrum of human emotion, with jubilant songs like “Wonderland” and “Cosmos,” which represent the heart-fluttering moments of the honeymoon stage, and darker tracks, like "All By Yourself," featuring one-time BTS collaborators Julia Ross and Krysta Youngs that reflects post-break-up regret, and now boasts over 153,000 Spotify streams.
"Leave Me," the most recent single, came to life with collaborator and musician pantology who added an eclectic baseline and airy vocals from Megan Ashworth. Electronic music tastemaker Acid Stag wrote, "The vibrancy of the track becomes an evident catalyst in the composition immediately through the warmth created in the synths that transport you to a brightened setting in your head." Joy of Violent Movement added that the track is "a sultry, infectious bop that sonically is a slick synthesis of New Jack Swing, 80s synth funk, contemporary electro pop and R&B centered around glistening synth arpeggios. wobbling bass synths, skittering and thumping beats, a chopped up and distorted vocal sample paired with Megan Ashworth‘s sultry yet contemplative delivery and a soaring, infectious hook."
The previously shared single, "100%" featuring ÊMIA, is a summery track that channels AIR APPARENT's signature light, airy sound combined with his relatable, raw lyricism. "100%" was mixed by Brent Kolatalo (Mark Ronson, One Republic) and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Emily Lazar (Sia, Maggie Rogers) and has garnered over 159,000 streams on Spotify alone.
The track's accompanying video, directed by Mood Infinite (Jeff Wu) and Kelsey Tang, brings AIR APPARENT into a lush sanctuary where time stops and the relationship becomes imaginary, filled with textured glitches mixed with an ominous version of reality which mirror the disconnect in the relationship.
Drawing additional inspiration from a variety of artists and genres such as James Blake, Japanese Breakfast and Vampire Weekend, AIR APPARENT continues to boldly fuse together a myriad of genres. The way guitar tones are incorporated and woven into the production has become a signature part of AIR APPARENT's sound, and recently allowed him to dabble into the realms of electro-pop and indie, echoing the likes of CHVRCHES and Purity Ring. Beyond breaking down musical barriers, AIR APPARENT hopes to inspire other marginalized young people to pursue their creative endeavors.
AIR APPARENT's sophomore EP, Color Dreams, arrived in 2019 and his momentous single "three strikes" with DAVVN was released in 2020–a track that has since garnered over 119,000 streams on Spotify. Originating from Atlanta, GA, AIR APPARENT found himself mixing in eclectic themes of hip-hop, Bollywood tunes and pop punk making it easily accessible for him to transport any listener into a realm they have yet to experience. Notion noted AIR APPARENT's ability to create an otherworldly experience for the listener, writing, "Every time you tune into an AIR APPARENT track you are instantly transported to his synth-based magical world." With the magic of his earlier projects, AIR Apparent elevates his artistry like never before
As AIR APPARENT, San Francisco-based artist and producer Neil Sethi makes exuberant electronic pop that pulls listeners into his technicolor fantasy world. The independent Indian American musician draws from a range of influences—from James Blake, Mitski, Kaytranada, Jai Wolf, and others—to create an expansive EDM sound that has been spotlit on EARMILK, Notion, and Spotify’s Beats of Tomorrow playlist. Inspired by Hayao Miyazaki films and the magic realism of Haruki Murakami, Sethi creates these musical universes to allow himself and listeners to process their own emotional landscapes.
Sethi now releases his debut album Chromatic, out now. Blending elements of ‘80s funk and electronic with soaring R&B/pop hooks, the album captures the highs and lows of a romantic relationship. Jubilant songs, like “Wonderland” and “Cosmos,” represent the heart-fluttering moments of the honeymoon stage, while the darker tracks, like “All By Yourself,” featuring one-time BTS collaborators Julia Ross and Krysta Ross, reflect post-breakup regret. As opposed to his first EPs, 2018’s Imaginary and 2019’s Color Dreams, where he entrusted collaborators with toplining, Sethi was more involved in the melody and lyric writing process on Chromatic, leading to its more immersive sound.
“I wanted to play on the idea that electronic music doesn’t have to be one thing. It can be stretched and smeared in different directions,” Sethi says of Chromatic. “The title refers to me expressing my vision of electronic music in a range of different colors, just how you can take a human experience and find 25 different angles and narratives within it.”
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Sethi grew up surrounded by music, whether it was local rap heroes like OutKast and Ludacris, or the Bollywood and Hindu spiritual songs his Indian immigrant parents played. From an early age, he learned to play the harmonium, piano, and viola, and also sang in a men’s choir in middle school—the same time that he became a fan of the explosive nu-metal of Linkin Park. Though he started DJing in college, it wasn’t until 2016 after moving to San Francisco that he started producing beats off of a friends’ suggestion. Sethi quickly found that music was a form of escapism, but also a way to process buried feelings and memories. “The act of creating is often the best way for me to get to know myself,” Sethi says. “Even when making instrumentals, certain words start popping out, and I find that they were parts of me that I hadn’t expressed.”
Since releasing his first tracks in 2017, Sethi has swiftly gained buzz for his early indie dance tracks that recall CHVRCHES and Purity Ring. A multi-time finalist in the International Songwriting Competition, he performed his first live set in August 2021 at Joy Ruckus Club 4, the largest Asian music festival in the world. As his vision for Air Apparent grows, Sethi hopes that his work inspires marginalized youths to pursue their creative passions. “I want to see more Brown people making music. I want to see more Asian people making music,” he says. Though his songs burst with feeling, from the peaks of ecstasy to the depths of sorrow, they always end on a message of hope, a promise that another future is possible.