Today we’d like to introduce you to Prabhu Ragunathan.
Prabhu, before we jump into specific questions about your art, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Music has always been my escape and a medium for me to give context to my feelings and emotions. I started playing the guitar when I was 14 and it transformed my relationship with myself. It was an instrument that I truly enjoyed playing, it made me feel alive and it built an identity for myself.
Over the years, my passion for music grew beyond the guitar and shifted towards production and recording. Halfway through college, a friend of mine that was a musician and producer died in a freak car accident. It was painful losing a friend that I looked up to and genuinely admired, but it inspired me to pursue music more seriously. I started a solo project called 2faced, which eventually turned into a band. For the remainder of college, I focused most of my energy-releasing music and playing live with 2faced, as well as producing for other musicians.
I dealt with some personal struggles after graduating from college and ended up taking time off from recording music to do some soul searching. I lived on the East Coast for a year, traveling between New Jersey and Boston, and I ended up moving to Dallas in March 2018. After moving to Texas, I rekindled my passion for playing music and recognized the therapeutic significance it has on my life. Last fall I released an EP “New Year” under my new moniker, “Bhloom”, and I am currently writing my second EP “Growing Pains”, which I plan to release in 2020.
In the last year, I also produced my partner Haley Demos’ single “Speak Your Truth” and played local gigs with her. I’m working on her new single “Best Friend & Bae” (BFB), which we plan to release soon! On top of that, I also play guitar for an electronic-pop band/project called “Aves Noir”, started by Corbin Winkfield, another Dallas artist.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am fortunate for having a relatively privileged life, but music has not always been a smooth road. Outside of music, I work full-time in healthcare analytics, so time management can be difficult. As a producer, writing sessions unintentionally turn into recording sessions, which can be exhausting after a long day at work.
Moving to Dallas last year and starting a music career from scratch was definitely challenging. Although I did not have the luxury of knowing other musicians in the area, it’s been a great motivator for me to engage in the local music scene and meet new people.
Please tell us about your work.
I love being a producer because I get to create the context or “vibe” for a song. I’m really bad at writing lyrics, so I prefer working with other rappers and singers for vocal ideas. I grew up listening to everything from Indian Classical music to Deathcore, so I try to keep an open mind when it comes to songwriting. I used to be self-conscious that my songs didn’t follow typical song structures or that they didn’t sound like other artists’, but over time I’ve learned to appreciate the things that make me unique. The majority of my music is instrumental, so it’s fascinating hearing what other people imagine when they listen to my music.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite childhood memories is when my grandma visited the US (I lived in India) and brought back Pokémon Ruby as a total surprise. It was hard to buy non-bootleg Nintendo games in India during the early 2000s, so it was a huge deal that I got the latest Pokémon game! At the time, I didn’t know there was a new game and the access to videos/trailers was limited compared to nowadays, so everything felt magical and exciting. Plus, Gen 3 Pokémon was dope AF.
Contact Info:
- Website: bhloom.bandcamp.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @bhloomtunes
- Other: www.soundcloud.com/bhloom
Image Credit:
Joseph Xu, Esha Biswas, Amanda Marie
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