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‘You don’t have to be a music expert to belong here’ For software professional and regular attendee Madhu P (27), the appeal extends beyond the record itself. There is something nice about experiencing an album collectively instead of putting on your headphones and listening alone ‘There is a story behind every album’ For curator and organiser at The Listening Society, Steven Joseph K (32) says the experience can begin before the first track plays. For graphic designer and regular attendee at After Hours Listening Room Experience, Vani Lakshmi (28), the format similarly offers something streaming often does not: patience.
Because i was curious, but what stayed with me was how differently the room felt once the record started playing,” she says, i initially went.
There is a story behind every album; the way it was recorded, the influences on the artiste, the instruments and the production choices,” he says. There was a time when listening to an album meant putting on a record, sitting close to the speakers and letting the music play without interruption. In Hyderabad, however, some music lovers are deliberately choosing to slow things down. Listening sessions are creating spaces where albums are played from start to finish, often on vinyl or high-quality sound systems, with phones and distractions put aside. Some sessions also bring in conversations around the music, its making and the artiste, turning what is usually a solitary activity into a shared weekend experience. “The best part is that you don’t have to be a vinyl collector or someone who knows everything about music. “Everyone becomes quiet, but it doesn’t feel awkward. You are listening to the same thing with a room full of strangers, and somehow that creates a connection. ” For Madhu, that shared silence is part of the attraction. “There is something nice about experiencing an album collectively instead of putting on your headphones and listening alone. You are listening to the same thing with a room full of strangers, and somehow that creates a connection. “It’s not just about putting on a record and asking people to sit quietly. “We try to give people that context and then let them listen. Sometimes knowing what went into an album changes the way you hear it. ” The conversation afterwards, he adds, is part of the experience too. “People come away with completely different things they noticed. “Streaming has trained me to skip. At a listening room, you commit to the entire record, including the songs you might normally skip. Sometimes the track you discover that way becomes the one you go home and play again. It has made me more curious about albums rather than just individual songs and about why an artist chose to put those particular tracks together.”
Today, music follows us everywhere through phones, playlists, headphones, cars and café speakers.
