Alternative Pop from Varun Sheel

Varun Sheel is an exciting new name in the indie pop space, crafting instantly catchy songs wrapped up in colourful arrangements while drawing from both personal experience and his musical heritage. Based in Boston, his sound is an unexpected and slick blend of cultures and influences, shaped by a childhood spent immersed in the intricacies of Hindustani classical music. His father, a trained vocalist, introduced him early on to the worlds of ragas, melodic structure and breath control, tools that would later find their way, almost invisibly, into the fabric of his songwriting.

While his origins lay in the traditional, Varun’s musical coming-of-age was informed by hours of self-teaching on YouTube, soaking in the virtuosic styles of guitar legends like Paul Gilbert and Buckethead. It’s this blend of inherited tradition and digital discovery that’s allowed him to forge such a compelling musical output.

While pursuing a Neuroscience degree, he developed his songwriting talents, fusing Indian tonalities with a modern pop stylings. It was during the pandemic that these threads pulled together; Bollywood visuals, Western music theory, reflective lyricism, resulting in a wave of music that felt highly personal and thoroughly current. His 2024 debut “more than friends” marked his arrival on the music scene and he’s since continued to shined with a string of impressive tracks.

Now Varun returns with his latest release titled “cool like you,” a track that cuts into the fragile heart of identity and emotional performance. Built on infectious disco-inflected guitars, 808 basslines and crisp drums, it delivers an upbeat sonic veneer that masks something far more poignant underneath. The song explores the familiar but often unspoken context of hiding parts of ourselves to maintain connection, the fear that being fully seen might mean being rejected, asking what happens when the version of you that someone loves isn’t who you really are.

Brought in by the bright twang of guitar chords and airy vocalisations, the snap of drums sets the track in motion as Varun’s smooth vocal leads soar above to craft an infectious pop scene. Progressing with pulsing bass synth and the steady punch of percussion, his expressive vocals roll over the guitar rhythms to lay down a memorable and energising sound.

Propelled by lively instrumentation and danceable grooves, “cool like you” offers a shimmering aesthetic that’s sure to win over new and existing listeners alike. With each release, Varun Sheel continues to build on his own hybrid language of sound and emotion and “cool like you” adds to his truly magnificent catalogue of pop-focused music in spectacular fashion.

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