Nashville meets Malaysia

SHE is shy but loves to perform. She is quiet but loves to tell stories. And she is a singer and songwriter with a knack for doodling.

Amrita Soon has an established presence in the indie music scene.

The full-time singer and songwriter works with talents in Malaysia and the US, while learning the ropes about music production.

With all her achievements, it is surprising to learn that her powerhouse career began only a little over 10 years ago.

In her tween years, her father taught her how to play the guitar on a second-hand instrument.

It was too big for her at the time.

She and her sister were already playing the piano and the violin. Her mother is a pianist herself.

But once she gave the guitar a try, she was enamoured.

She began to learn song structures by copying chords and lyrics from Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Miley Cyrus. It did not take long before Amrita started to write her own songs.

Her first was Raindrops, inspired by the drops of rain in her garden.

“The CD of that song is out there, somewhere. But I don’t have it any more,” Amrita said with a laugh.

Of course, she tried her luck in singing competitions during her tweens.

“Although I have never won a music competition, I have won drawing awards.

“At 11, I won a MacBook as the second prize for drawing. It had Garageband and that was how I got into mixing music.”

By 14, Amrita had started to perform `live’.

“I got kicked out for busking once,” she said.

“I saw a bunch of fish in an aquarium at a mall. I wanted to buy and free them in a lake. So I performed for three hours until the guards at the mall changed shifts. I was told to stop.

“I did manage to rescue a few of the fish with the money I got from busking,” Amrita said with a smile.

It is no surprise that she is also a vegetarian.

In her teens, Amrita went to Nashville and joined the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSA).

“I realised that most of the music I listen to is either recorded there or the songwriters are from there. The whole music industry is there. That is when I found out about NSA. That is also when I discovered that songwriting could be a career.”

She began to travel between Malaysia and the US. In Nashville, she discovered a town full of songwriters and musicians. There, Amrita made friends and met future collaborators.

She experienced a place made for singer-songwriters like her, with writing rooms and quiet performance venues. Her music was more accepted there.

With travel restrictions in effect, Amrita still stays in contact with her friends in the US and joins songwriting sessions with them. In Malaysia, she works with her sister and is sometimes joined by her brother to make songs.

“I am picking up producing so I am looking to record my next EP from home.”

She and her sister have been saving up to buy equipment, piece by piece, to be able to produce music at home. They even had to share and take turns on the microphone.

In the meantime, Amrita continues to write songs and put up videos of her music on her Instagram page. Her videos are often filled with doodles and handwritten lyrics.

“I did those myself on a tablet. I used to do it on my smartphone, frame by frame. It may seem tedious, but to me, it’s fun. I still doodle and draw as cover art for some of my music.”

She has been a full-time musician since January this year.

Amrita and her sister have started on the production of an EP for two songs.

“I’ve since moved to learning a bit of Ableton and Logic after leaning on Garageband.”