Colombo-Based Artist Asela Perera Releases New Album, ‘Chasing Joy’
Sri Lankan indie artist Asela Perera releases his third album ‘Chasing Joy,’ a stellar ten-track presentation written on the back of the harrowing circumstances in the country, pouring out folk, pop, indie…
Sri Lankan indie artist Asela Perera releases his third album ‘Chasing Joy,’ a stellar ten-track presentation written on the back of the harrowing circumstances in the country, pouring out folk, pop, indie, electronica, and rock music. We take a look at the record and engage in a lengthy discussion with Asela about the ‘Joy’ in ‘Chasing Joy.’
The album unfolds with the title track ‘Chasing Joy‘ offering crisp vocal harmonies and delicate guitar strumming with somber trumpet and trombone arrangements. Three minutes in, the single ushers in robust vocal and brass arrangements, guided by Asela’s calming voice. This is followed by ‘EOD,’ a tune that weaves in a flurry of beautifully placed string sections that build the groundwork for the lyrically thought-provoking composition.
‘Goodnight World‘ seeps into a feel-good indie rock theme riddled with steady guitar elements and backing vocal harmonies. ‘Down By The River‘ boasts the vocal prowess of Anushka Senanayake laid over plucky string work. Track seven, ‘Take,’ presents an indie folk melody, which is followed up by ‘The Day I’m Gone,’ a three-minute outing plugged with soothing cello work.
‘Not The Way It Ends,’ the longest song on the album, clocking at nearly seven minutes, closes out ‘Chasing Joy.’ The track begins with graceful guitar movement and progresses to an assertive chorale segment pierced by flowing piano relays, guitar riffs, and percussive action.
‘Chasing Joy’ skillfully reels in strings from violinist Julia Stein from the UK, Macedonian violist Sanja Smileska, cellist Milena Radovic from Serbia, US-based cellist Emma Hays Johnson, and trumpeter Hans Sampath Blok based in Norway, exhibiting an array of international collaboration. Sri Lanka-based collaborators featured on the album include Anushka Senanayake, Joshua Weerasingham, David Maurice, Natasha Senanayake, Malisha Kodituwakku, and Charith Fernando on drums.
To unveil the album, Asela masterfully invited his collaborators and close associates to an online listening session on the audio distribution platform Bandcamp, which drew approximately thirty listeners and assembled attendees from Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Macedonia, and India.
Asela’s latest project was conceived on the back of the tremulous times and circumstances in Sri Lanka. The artist notes, “Sri Lanka, where I’m from, has been through an extremely difficult period from 2019 to the present day. We’ve been subject to Church bombings on Easter Sunday of 2019, Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020/2021, and then the worst economic crisis in the island’s history leading to the people’s protest, “Aragalaya”, in 2022.”
“While Sri Lankans do tend to have that island mentality of taking everything on the chin with a smile, the last few years have undoubtedly been deeply distressing and challenging for people throughout the island. The album was born out of that environment really.”
Touching upon the foundations of the album, Asela relied on music to cope with being isolated for months during the lockdown. He mentions, “At a certain point, I just turned to writing pieces of music and demoing tracks as a coping mechanism. Once the lockdown restrictions eased up, I’d work with my co-producers, Nishan Daniel and Natasha Senanayake, booking in-studio time and recording the songs over the last two and a half years.”
He talks about the collaborators on the album, saying, “I had the pleasure of having quite a few extremely talented professional musicians and creatives collaborating on the record. Working with all these amazing individuals was such a rewarding experience. It honestly expanded the palette within which the lyrics sat and brought so much more dynamic range into the album as an overall holistic listening experience.”
“Firstly, Nishan Daniel as my recording engineer and producer. Natasha Senanayake has influenced and enhanced the way I approach songwriting over the last decade. She worked as a producer on the album and is a professional composer,” says Asela, highlighting each collaborator. “We also reached out to musicians from Sri Lanka as well as other countries to contribute to the tracks. I also had the pleasure of having Anushka Senanayake do a vocal feature on one of the tracks as well. We even had a few close friends contribute to choral work for the title track as well.”
With a record that deals with the harsher truths of living in Sri Lanka, Asela discloses what he deems the listeners should take away from ‘Chasing Joy.’ “When we were in writing and production, we were extremely focused on retaining the realistic and raw elements of the initial demos. I think this has led to an album that is quite introspective and that certainly wears its heart on its sleeve.”
He adds, “I would say it’s not an easy listen for people who tend to steer clear of the hard subjects. But for those who are willing to invest the time to really sit with the songs and really let the lyrics and layers seep through, I think there is plenty of ground for the message to resonate. And ultimately that is the best thing I could hope for, that these songs find the people that really need them and that they gain some sort of absolution or comfort from the record.”
Unfiltered and looking toward a brighter tomorrow, we closed our conversations with the singer-songwriter voicing how creating ‘Chasing Joy’ over the last three years has been a saving grace for him. “The album is not titled ‘Joy’. It is about chasing or understanding what joy means to us in a post-Covid world. The world’s changed. The way we perceive ourselves has changed. Unrecognizable in some ways even. So, the songs are literally questions upon questions. And in putting those questions to melody, I feel like it’s lifted a certain amount of weight for those of us who were involved in the project. That’s the beauty and power of music.”
‘Chasing Joy’ is Asela’s third album after releasing ‘Gold’ in 2020 and ‘These Years’ in 2015.
Track List:
Album Credits:
Written, arranged, and performed by Asela Perera
Produced by Asela Perera, Natasha Senanayake, Nishan Daniel
All programmed elements on the album by Nishan Daniel
Recording, Mixing, and Mastering Engineer by Nishan Daniel at The Sooriya Village, Sri Lanka
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