A blooming: How Easy Wanderlings is shaping Indian Indie

You could tell, within a minute, that Easy Wanderlings weren’t going to “warm up” the crowd.They were going to pull it in. Before The Lumineers’ India show even found its full volume, their set created its own pocket of attention.

Formed in Pune in 2015, Easy Wanderlings are built around composer-lyricist Sanyanth
Naroth’s writing and Pratika Gopinath’s warm, unforced vocals. They function as an eight-piece collective with a clear emotional language. Siya Ragade’s flute, Shardul Bapat’s violin, Sharad Rao’s guitar, Nitin M. Krishna’s keys, Malay Vadalkar’s bass, and Abraham Zachariah’s drums shape arrangements that feel immersive, detailed, and patient—songs that open slowly and stay with you. Their songwriting stays close to everyday conversations and small observations—the kind of details you only catch on the second listen. It rewards repeat plays.

Their debut album As Written in the Stars (2017) was crowdfunded, and for a long stretch they kept individual identities out of the spotlight. The music arrived first, the faces much later. They followed it with the two-track concept EP My Place to You (2019), and later The Akkare Tapes (Live from Akkarai) (2021), which captured how they sound outside the “festival mix.”  

In a time when indie success is often reduced to spikes and trends, their growth has been
steady: 2M+ streams and a widening global listenership.The 2022 EP Caught in a Parade leaned into modern soul/funk and was ranked #1 on Rolling Stone India’s Best Indian EPs of 2022 list. “Mayflower,” their collaboration with Nikhil D’Souza, landed on Apple Music India’s 100 Best Songs of 2022 list. The single “Enemy”—written around the anxiety of online judgement—also featured in Amazon Original film Gehraiyaan.

Live, that “quiet wanderlust” travels well—NH7 Weekender, Vh1 Supersonic, Echoes of the Earth, and a listing on the SXSW 2020 schedule. Recognition has followed through Spotify RADAR and Apple’s UP-NEXT. 

As they head into India Jazz Project and IIMW, their relevance feels tied to timing. Indian indie today runs on trust: between artist and listener, between sound and silence. Easy Wanderlings show where it already is.