When tea met the new track of toast, ‘Dreamland’, from their homecoming album, Small town, big love, small houseThere is a joyful tribute to Kerala. The video directed by Anto Philip, which fell on August 20, makes him realize what the house means for the quartet. This includes their homes and families, the picturesque landscape of Kerala, her life and her people. “In fact, the shirts we are wearing are based on it Panchvarna (Five colors) Theme, renovated from our mothers’ saris, “Band singer Ashwin Gopkumar says.
“Dreamland ‘talks about home, love and affection. For us, it seems that we have come in the full cycle,” says the guitarist Achuth Jigopal. The song also stars singer and musician Job Kurien. He said, “We have praised the music of the job for years and we felt that his power-pack voice is perfect for the song.” The multilingual song has English and Hindi songs sung by Ashwin and Malayalam by jobs.
When the tea met the toast. Photo Credit: Sorikiran
With a soul inherent in Kerala, the song includes the voice of the combu, the Elathlam and Chanda are traditionally used in the match. “Instead of trumpets and trombone, we went to give energy to the song with these devices. This, with the vocals of the job, enhances the sonic experience,” says Pali.
Ever since the Tea Met Tast was launched as a band in 2016, the quartet – Ashwin, guitarist Achuth Jaigopal, keyboardist Pali Francis and Drummer Panels – are stuck together. During these years, they continued to work on their crafts and create authentic music.
Although they do not prefer to be completely limited to a style, their music is indie-folk-optional.
From his debut EP Joy of Little Things in 2017, he brought more than 25 originals, acted music charts in his own way, found fans worldwide and made music for Bollywood.
Being a multilingual, the band has always been the band, which connects with fans and migrant people across the country. “Over the years, we have created a main community that has been with us through our journey and has been a part of our development. We are lucky that they are capable of maintaining their interest,” Achuth.
A few days ago, WCMT hosted intimate events with friends and community in Bengaluru and Wayanad, where he played a new album, shared stories, and talked about the experiences of making albums. “This was the first time we were doing something like this as a band, but it was a wonderful experience to organize this particular hearing session and meet those who make us who we are,” Achuth says.
The band organized a nature tape music festival – Edition 1 in Wayanad earlier this month, which was for their main community, and to listen to the nature tape versions of their songs, sports, food and live performances.
Has the music process easier by working together for 10 years? “Let’s just say, we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” laughing.
The band says that most of his songs are born during his visit. However, they often have song-writing camps. For ‘Dreamland’, they went to different parts of Kerala for such camps, soaking ideas in nature.
WCMT will visit India from December.
‘Dreamland’ is available on all streaming platforms.
Published – August 22, 2025 11:14 AM IST
