ADVIKA – Chasing Birds (2025)
Boston-based artist ADVIKA’s debut EP, Chasing Birds, is a transcendent, genre-fluid meditation on identity, heritage, and self-discovery. A recent Berklee College of Music graduate, ADVIKA arrives fully formed, vocalist, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, with a sound that is as boundary-pushing as it is rooted in centuries-old traditions. This five-track collection announces her arrival with grace, grit, and a fearless commitment to authenticity.
From the opening notes of ‘She’s Going Places’, it’s clear that ADVIKA is charting her own sonic path. Carnatic-inflected vocal lines float effortlessly over textured electronic landscapes, setting the tone for a deeply immersive experience. The track shimmers with promise, pairing adventurous harmonies with emotional vulnerability. It’s a fitting introduction to an EP that feels more like a personal journal than a polished debut.
Throughout Chasing Birds, ADVIKA seamlessly blends jazz harmonies, ambient pop aesthetics, and experimental electronic production with the rhythmic complexity and melodic ornamentation of South Indian classical music. This synthesis isn’t just decorative, it’s structural, informing the emotional architecture of each track. Nowhere is this more evident than on ‘Through and Through’, where lush viola lines underpin shifting time signatures and vocals that oscillate between ethereal and commanding. The track captures both the meditative and the restless aspects of transformation.
‘Pariah’ stands as a highlight, a moody, atmospheric composition that showcases ADVIKA’s range not only as a vocalist but also as a producer with a keen sense of spatial awareness. The track builds slowly, layer by layer, weaving together haunting synth textures and minimalist percussion. It’s introspective without being indulgent, grounded in specificity yet universally resonant.
On ‘Autumn Leaves’, ADVIKA takes on the classic track with her arrangement that taps into dream pop and art pop sensibilities, conjuring an emotional landscape of nostalgia and release. Her vocals glide delicately over a bed of ambient pads and plucked strings, revealing a softness that contrasts with the EP’s more rhythmically dense moments. The emotional clarity here is striking; ADVIKA’s lyrics feel lived-in, intimate, and refreshingly unguarded.
The closing title track, ‘Chasing Birds’, is a triumphant culmination of the EP’s themes. It’s expansive yet grounded, ethereal yet precise, a sonic representation of the artist in flight. The production is layered but never overwhelming, allowing her voice to remain at the centre of the journey. As a final statement, it encapsulates the sense of motion, growth, and searching that defines the EP.
ADVIKA cites influences like Björk, FKA Twigs, Imogen Heap, and Arushi Jain, but her voice, both literally and creatively, is distinctly her own. With Chasing Birds, she doesn’t simply borrow from different genres; she integrates them with care, intention, and emotional clarity. It’s rare to encounter a debut project this ambitious and cohesive.
“This project feels like the most honest version of myself I’ve shared. It’s a representation of who I am – my roots, my home, and where I’m headed” – ADVIKA on Chasing Birds
Find out more about ADVIKA on her official website, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Spotify.
