Shaan Chandra & Kiran Vincent’s ‘Everbloom’ is an awe-inspiring dream metal journey

At just about ten minutes, ‘Everbloom‘ may be modest in its runtime, but is ambitious in scope. The latest EP from producer/composer Shaan Chandra and vocalist Kiran Vincent of Bengaluru metal band Hope Awake is an ambitious collision of ambient textures, intense metal, shoegaze, and post-rock atmosphere. Expectations run high, and the duo more than delivers, crafting a compact yet emotionally expansive journey. These are some magically crafted 10 minutes of music. It’s gloomy, awe-inspiring, dreamlike.

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Everbloom unfolds as a slow-burning emotional arc. The EP opens with ‘Dusk‘: the cassette loads, clean reverbed guitars flicker to life. A wall of sound gradually swells that teeters between post-rock shimmer and shoegaze density. Kiran’s clean vocals shift into growls as the haze thickens, morphing into some metalcore riffs before dissolving again.

‘Eventide‘ floats in like a dream state, with spoken word passages by Niharika Giri (who also designed the artwork). What begins as contemplative blooms into a cinematic crescendo, a moment of galactic scale and unexpected grandeur. The mid-song lift here is breathtaking, pushing the EP into its most explosive chapter. That would be ‘Afterglow‘, where the cosmic fury hits. Kiran’s guttural howls feel possessed, swirling inside a vortex of detuned riffage and ghostly textures. It’s furious and transcendent, a moment of catharsis where shoegaze blurs into metalcore. The EP closes with the piano coda ‘Nocturne‘, which closes sombrely, never fully letting go. The aftertaste of the listening experience here lingers, and I wanna hit repeat.

Shaan Chandra’s production is key to the EP’s immersive pull. The ambient synth and metal production convey the full epic scope of the musical narrative on display. Cosmic, lush, and meditative. His arrangements allow space to breathe, then collapse the air with crushing force. Meanwhile, Kiran’s vocals ground this swirling world: hauntingly fierce but emotionally articulate and precise. If you dig the sound of acts like Loathe, Deftones, The Contortionist, or even some Sigur Rós and Skyharbor, this would be right up your alley. But even if you are not, I would implore you to give this a listen for the sheer cinematic sound design down here.

So, don your headphones, let the mood spill over. ‘Everbloom‘ would elicit a beautiful haunting in you in the best way possible. Be carried along by the momentum of it all.

Be sure to check out and follow Shaan Chandra and Kiran Vincent‘s Instagram pages.