Composed and Produced by Sandeep Madhavan
Trumpet and Vocals by Katie Mackay
Synth by Bharath Kumar
Recorded at Gum Grooves Studios
Mixed and Mastered by Khussh Mehta at Kurma Mastering

Shoreline

Composed and Produced by Sandeep Madhavan
Mixed and Mastered by Khussh Mehta


Deluge

“Island of the moon” in Spanish.  An island in the middle of Lake Titicaca, adjacent to the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). One can look across the lake from there and see Peru, to which I couldn’t get to because I lacked one of the most important things an Indian traveler should possess. A visa.

Sandeep Madhavan: Acoustic Guitar, Synth, Bass, Production
Jake Wachtel: Toy Piano, Melodica, Recorder, Percussion

Isla De Luna

A lullaby in an odd time signature.  13/8 to be precise. Written and recorded while a few friends were passed out in the same room. I choose that melody because I didn’t want to wake them up as this skittering song kept playing on loop.

Sandeep Madhavan: Synth, Bass, Production
Gijsbert Ackermans: Drums

Sheepish

The plaintive lyrics are from a Johnny Mathis song called Misty. Written for ‘Prelude to Broken Silence’, a short play directed by Rashmi G.

Sandeep Madhavan: Synth, Bass, Production
Mayur Nanda: Synth
Katie Mackay: Vocals
Yogita Sengupta: Vocals

Kitten Up A Tree

Night in Kerala at my ancestral home as a six year old. All sounds were amplified tenfold, so you could hear everything that was going on for miles around, which was usually highway traffic, or a mysterious flautist playing somewhere in the distance.  I was usually scared shitless then.  Nothing’s changed.

Sandeep Madhavan: Synth, Bass, Production
Arjun MPN: Flute
Nirmala Govindarajan:  Voices

From Across The Valley

Started off as the soundtrack to a film of a bunch of Japanese staring eerily into the camera. Then it evolved into something a little more twisted. 

Sandeep Madhavan: Synth, Bass, Lyrics, Production
Katie Mackay: Vocals, Lyrics

Tailspin

Lightbulbs on Wet Sand
I was sitting on a beach at sunrise, off the coast of Vietnam on an island called Phu Quoc as the monsoon came in. As it did, the waves bought in lightbulbs from what I believe was the depths of the ocean. They had been in the sea a while for they were covered in barnacles.  And some of them had their insides intact, unfused. 

Sandeep Madhavan: Bass, Synth, Guitar, Production
Ginette Bernardini: Violin
Katie Mackay: Vocals

Lightbulbs On Wet Sand

Afraid of Letting Go
Airports are gloomy places when one is not looking forward to going back home. 

Sandeep Madhavan: Synth, Bass, Production
Katie Mackay: Trumpet
Arjun MPN: Flute

Afraid Of Letting Go

This track was written for and appears in Vol 3 of the International Artists for Gaza Compilation. Get yours at https://iafg.bandcamp.com/album/iafg-vol-3
Artwork by the wonderful Mohamad Sabbagh

Precipice

Mr Breadstick vs The Burning Deck - Rainbow (Miss Lane Rmx)

Mr Breadstick vs The Burning Deck - Portrait

Mr Breadstick vs The Burning Deck - Knee Deep In The North Sea(Portico Quartet Rmx)

Mr Breastick vs The Burning Deck - Empty Frames

It began like all my other tunes do. Firing up my computer and hoping for magic
But at that time Asif was hanging out at home, so we started putting down a sketch of what would later become Far Away Cloud. I found some notes lying around, and they happened to be the last thing I had written before I left Rio, sitting by the swimming pool of the Rio Hostel in Santa Teresa, my heart sinking as I realised that the greatest holiday of my life would be over in a few hours.
“Fly Away, Fly Away, my sweet darlings,
And please do me proud,
One day they’ll sing songs about you,
Floating on a far away cloud.”
The next day I sang the hook in my voice, just as a guide, and then Asif came over and when he heard it, he sang it like the way it is now, even as he kept joking that that was all a one-octave voice could do.
And then that was it. It didn’t go anywhere from there. I kept asking him about the lyrics for the verses, but he had other things on his plate, life had just happened to him and nothing materialised.
Then a day after a Watsky clinic at The Humming Tree, he sent me some lyrics.
It was like he sat to write his life down, his situation at that time and his struggles to overwhelm them, and it gave me goosebumps reading those snaky lines of poetry.
And then he sent me his verses. And that was the song. I didn’t change a thing. I didn’t need to.
It’s a shame that I’ll never be able to sit across a room with him again and watch him deliver words with unbelievable passion and energy, pacing around the room, writing words as they came to him onto his phone, while grooving away to some unknown rhythm in his head.
Asif, thanks for the memories and Happy Birthday. I'’ll try and do you proud.

Asif Akber aka Ragged Skull: Vocals, Programming
Sandeep Madhavan: Guitar, Bass, Programming, Production
Mastered by Khushh Mehta at Kurma Mastering

Far Away Cloud feat. Ragged Skull

Heems - Tell Me a Poem (Produced by The Burning Deck)

The second track off the upcoming album 'Kalinihta' by The Burning Deck

Unfathomable

The first track off 'Kalinihta" by The Burning Deck

Lyrics:

It was five o clock on Sunday afternoon,
It was hot, and dry, and I couldn’t even blink,
Sunset approached like an unwelcome stranger,
When the willows started to speak,
Of the things they had seen,
And the things they had done.
Thanks to the help of the wind.

And the words flow into my mind,
As the world blows into my life.
Strange and simple,
Without my intervention.
And the words flow into my life,
As the world blows into my mind.
Strange and simple,
Without my intervention.

Of distant places, and unbridled passion,
Of cities that thrived on delusion,
Of tricky stars and arduous streams,
Of truant music and immaculate dreams.

Of fairies with stardust for sale,
Of tin soldiers that ran without fail.
Their bullets stuck to their guns,
Aimed at mad poets and their interminable puns.

Of innocence lost in the arms of age,
Of performers exiled without a stage,
Of broken hearts searching for missing pieces,
Or chapters that almost skipped a page.

And the words flow into my mind,
As the world blows into my life.
Strange and simple,
Without my intervention.
And the words flow into my life,
As the world blows into my mind.
Strange and simple,
Without my intervention.

Without my Intervention

The title track from the album. Means Good Night in Greek. 

Kalinihta

A Quiet Acceptance of Fate

Boy on a Burning Deck

Walk this little path with me,
Shake your dreaming tree.
As the stories fall down,
They’ll become the sea.

Share a start with me,
Stare at the possibilities,
As they begin to show,
You’ll see the way to be free.

Leave your love with me,
I’ll shelter its inadequacies.

You’ll walk, you’ll stay,
You’ll leave, you’ll sway,
You’ll breathe, you’ll pray,
You’ll feel yourself wasting away.


You’ll smile and you’ll cry,
You’ll fake, and you’ll lie,
You’ll seethe,  you’ll sigh,
All in the blink of an eye.


Stay and waltz with me,
As the band plays a song for three,
Leave after a minute or two,
I’ll applaud politely.

As it withers away,
I’ll plant another seed.

You’ll walk, you’ll stay,
You’ll leave, you’ll sway,
You’ll breathe, you’ll pray,
You’ll feel yourself wasting away.

You’ll smile and you’ll cry,
You’ll fake, and you’ll lie,
You’ll seethe and you’ll sigh,
All in the blink of an eye.













Blink of an Eye

The Peace Hypnotic

A Different Shade of Blue

Sandeep Madhavan is a composer/bassist/electronic artist known as The Burning Deck. Inspired by ambient and cinematic music, jazz fusion and hip hop, his works include scores for Detective Byomkesh Bakshy (2015), Running Shaadi (2017), productions for artists like Heems (Das Racist, Swet Shop Boys), Smokey the Ghost  and albums like Kalinihta (2013), Deluge (2014) and Viscera (2018).

The Burning Deck

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