Already in its title, Plume Girl’s debut thoroughly lets things go and takes them in – all at once. “In the End We Begin” is the first solo full-length from Sowmya Somanath, a Hindustani classical singer/composer and half of alt-pop duo Felt Out. Plume Girl’s music takes inspiration from the semi-regular musical form of the rāga (translated as ‘tinting’), invoking mood and atmosphere, each rāga thought to have its own distinct nature and personality, brought to life through improvisation. String swells and Somanath’s searching vocalisations envelop every track’s own blissful chamber. Exploring imagined binaries along the way — eastern vs. western, traditional vs. experimental, acoustic vs. electronic, Sowmya sees music as a curious dialogue between divine Self and an invisible reality. Beneath the illusion of a chromatic world, there remains a blissful oneness.

Plume Girl’s songs sit between ambient Hindustani music and emotionally-encumbered pop. In front of backdrops comprising sundrenched drones or glitches, sketched out beats, and criss-crossing glissandi or flutes, Somanath both murmurs intimately and spirals upwards into soaring choruses. The lyrics ponder innermost thoughts, never more literally than on the blissful emo folk closing track: ‘In my heart I know / what’s in my heart / I know what’s in my…’

“When I began writing this music, I was fresh off of an experience that completely twisted my reality,” explains Somanath. It was the end of a years-long relationship, and the blossoming of a long-buried love hidden in plain sight: “a best friend of a decade, my musical partner, someone who had always seen me completely…At once, I felt grief and loss. At once, excitement and love.” 

Written and recorded at home by Plume Girl
plumegirl.bandcamp.com

Mixed by Plume Girl and Walter Nichols

“swimming lessons” recorded in Sonic Ranch with Maria Im (violin), Tamir Barzilay (drums), John Arndt (piano), and Tim Lefebvre (bass)
Flute in “alone, all one” and “i know” by Walter Nichols

Artwork and design by Milagros Lupotti (Elfy)
www.instagram.com/eeeeelllfffyyyyyyyyy/

Mastered by Adam Badí Donoval
abdonoval.com

Words by Tristan Bath
Photography by Zoltan Czakó

Released by mappa as MAP043 in 2023

Cipher

liquid cartography
sonic wanderings

mappa.editions@gmail.com

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟝
MAP059 Lénok - Langue of Tongue
MAP062 Kult Masek & Petr Vrba - Fumarola
MAP060 Yoichi Kamimura & Olli Aarni - Kōri no ryokō / Jäämatkailu
MAP061 Richard Hronský - Pohreb
MAP064 Areliz Ramos - B side
MAP063 Plume Gril - Unnameable Glory
MAP057 claire rousay & Gretchen Korsmo - quilted lament
MAP058 Adam Badí Donoval - a mirror where the image and the mirror wholly coincided
MAP056 fraufraulein - greater honeyguide
MAP055 - Julek ploski - Give Up Channel

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟜
MAP053 Michaela Antalová & Adrian Myhr - Sing Nightingale
MAP051 michaela turcerová - alene et
MAP052 E/I - explicit isolation
MAP054 Lamina - Sueños acuáticos
MAP049 - Päfgens - Aspect of What
MAP050 - Henrique Vaz - De Silenti Natura
MAP048 Alley Catss - m Helux
MAP047 adaa - …img…
MAP041 Pentu - And I Saw My Devil And I Saw My Deep Blue Sea

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛
MAP041 Slowfoam - Worlding With Earth
MAP045 VA - Synthetic Bird Music
MAP044 Line Gate - Trap
SKUMAP002 Action Pyramid & Jack Greenhalgh - Mardle: Daily Rhythms of a Pond
046 Adela Mede - Ne L​é​pj a Vir​á​gra
043 Plume Girl - In the End We Begin
039 Forces - Chim​æ​ras
040 Rob Winstone - sifting through heaven
SKUMAP001 Lucie Vítková - Cave Acoustics
030 Symposium Musicum - Symposium Musicum

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟚
038 Nighte - Pin down the dust
036 Kensho Nakamura - Electric Rust
037 Andrew Oda - Back To The Body
031 Baldruin - Kleine Freuden
035 CC Sorensen - Phantom Rooms
034 Alexandra Spence - a veil, the sea
033 Manja Ristić - Him, fast sleeping, soon he found In labyrinth of many a round, self​-​rolled
Grykë Pyje - The Fantastic World of Grykë Pyje
032 Atte Elias Kantonen - POP 6 SUSURRUS

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟙
029 Grykë Pyje - Squirlich Stroll
028 Cucina Povera - Dalmarnock tapes
027 Nick Storring - Newfoundout
025 Lucia Nimcová & Sholto Dobie - DILO
026 Cheryl E. Leonard - Schism
024 Tastin Menu - Stand closer when you have something to say
023 Infant - face first in the entangled

𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘
022 Line Gate - Apex
021 Andrew Oda - SOTTO
020 Cristián Alvear & d'incise - Bow down thine ear, I bring you glad tidings
019 Vlad Dobrovolski - Natursymphony No​.​1 — Spring Music
018 Felicity Mangan - Creepy Crawly
017 Roman Radkovič Collective - Televize
016 Olli Aarni - Mustikoita ja kissankelloja
015 Sarah Hughes - I love this city and its outlying lands
014 Sébastien Branche - Lignes de Fuite

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟡
013 Grykë Pyje - Collision And Coalescence
VA: UŠAMI / Sound mapping camp - Gemer Gothic Route
012 IQ+1 - Conversaphone Plus

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟠
011 Sarah Hennies - Sisters by Lenka Novosedlíková
010 Simon Whetham - Open and Closed Circles
009 MP Hopkins - Aeroplanes & Puddles

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟟
008 Bruno Duplant, Pedro Chambel - Autofictions
007 Catriel Nievas, Sergio Merce - Pampa
006 Diatribes - Sistere
005 Line Gate - Den

𝟚𝟘𝟙𝟞
004 Sarah Hennies: Orienting Response by Cristián Alvear
003 Daniel Lercher & Vinzenz Schwab - Decrecimiento Exponencial
002 Adam Asnan - Carriers, PA
001 Jeph Jerman - 34​°​111'3"N 111​°​95'4"W