India, Nov. 14 -- For Chandigarh-born singer songwriter Sahil Samuel, music has never been about chasing a sound or fitting into a genre. It's a release, a compass, and often the only thing that stays steady when everything else feels uncertain. "I've never thought of genre as identity. I just followed what felt honest," says the frontman of popular Hindi-Urdu fusion band, Naalayak insisting that his music is rooted in instinct and a very personal space.

That philosophy is what shaped Marammat, his latest project, which he says is probably the most vulnerable chapter in his discography. Born out of a period where "everything felt uncertain," the 32-year-old says the album wasn't planned as a departure or a reinvention, but, as a form of ...