In February 2014, Rolling Stone India introduced an Ahmedabad home-studio project that had only just decided post-rock was the point. Guitarist Uddipan Sarmah had left an engineering job in Bengaluru, opened BlueTree Studio, and gathered drummer Ashwin Naidu and keyboardist-guitarist Shubham Gurung — credited as Shawn in that first notice — around a shared taste for long instrumental arcs. The debut EP Growing Suspicions landed on Valentine's Day. Twelve years on, the band that stylises its name aswekeepsearching still writes in that patient register — Hindi at the centre, a decade of albums behind it, and "you left something" at No. 74 on Spotify's Rock in India playlist as of 14 October 2026. This is how an Ahmedabad studio experiment became one of Indian post-rock's longest-running catalogues.

aswekeepsearching at a glance

  • Formed: 2013 in Ahmedabad (Rolling Stone India, February 2014); often abbreviated AWKS
  • Current core (Bandcamp credits for kyun?, 2025): Uddipan Sarmah (guitars, vocals, lyrics), Robert Alex (bass), Sambit Chatterjee / Sambitc (drums, sound design, percussion)
  • Sound: Hindi-lyric post-rock and ambient rock; strings and Indian instrumentation on later records
  • Key albums: Growing Suspicions (2014 EP), Khwaab (2015), Zia (2017), Rooh (2019), Sleep (2020), kyun? (2025)
  • Label stance: self-released under the aswekeepsearching imprint on Apple Music / iTunes (℗ lines read the band name)
  • Rock in India (checked 14 October 2026): "you left something" No. 74 — playlist 37i9dQZF1DX2Ja6eBQeGaS
  • Latest long-form: kyun?, released 11 July 2025 (Apple Music / Bandcamp), framed as a tenth-anniversary statement

From BlueTree Studio to Growing Suspicions

Sarmah told Rolling Stone India in 2014 that the studio and the band were the same bet: "The reason I got into studio work and the band is because I want to try starting up the scene here [in Ahmedabad]." He had spent seven years as an engineer in Bengaluru before coming home. BlueTree Studio opened in July 2013. The first public marker was the single "The Tattva" that December, which drew remix interest from UK electronica artist Liam Baugh (Leroi). Growing Suspicions followed on 14 February 2014 — eight tracks including Baugh remixes of "The Tattva" and "Aakorxon," with "In Circles" the stream Rolling Stone India put forward. Apple Music still lists the EP under Rock, ℗ 2014 Aswekeepsearching.

That origin story matters for the map of Indian indie we keep returning to in the DIY roots of Rock in India. aswekeepsearching did not wait for a Mumbai A&R desk. It built a room in Ahmedabad and shipped the files.

Khwaab, Noiseware blood and the Russia dates

By 2015 the live band had hardened. Pune experimental-metal outfit Noiseware supplied drummer Gautam Deb and bassist Robert Alex (Bob in the early press), and Noiseware guitarist-producer Adhiraj Singh tracked the first full-length at Refractor Studio in Pune. Crowdfunding covered what gig money could not. Sarmah described Khwaab to Rolling Stone India as "aggressively emotional," with guitars on the heavier side — not the floaty record the Hindi title ("dream") might suggest. The album reached worldwide listeners on 12 October 2015 through Russian label Flowers Blossom in the Space, with the Indian release the next day. Closing track "B-303" takes its name from BlueTree's house number, not from weaponry; Sarmah said so when Rolling Stone India premiered it.

Within days the trio of Sarmah, Gurung and Deb were on a first international run through Russia (Alex stayed home for work; Sarmah joked he would "be playing through the soundcard"). Rolling Stone India's 2016 Hot List called them "Ahmedabad's biggest contribution to ambient rock" and praised Sarmah for knowing that "adding wistful Hindi lyrics to post-rock makes for both marketing and creative genius" — a multi-city Ahmedabad-Pune-Mumbai logistics story that also shaped how independent bands build their sound.

Zia, Rooh and the wider stage

Zia ("light") arrived on 28 April 2017. Rolling Stone India's Anurag Tagat heard heavier grooves, more vocals, Indian instruments and electronica samples. Sarmah wanted accessibility without apology: "Definitely, it has to be accessible, that's what we aim for." The record pulls in guests who sit next to the rest of our coverage — violinist Ajay Jayanthi, also tied to Anand Bhaskar Collective, plus tabla and sitar colour that places Zia beside the regional rock story rather than in a purely Anglo post-rock lane. Pre-release, Sarmah ran living-room listening sessions across Indian cities; post-release, the band's festival footprint widened to stages that also host peers such as Thermal And A Quarter and Motherjane.

Rooh ("soul") followed on 27 September 2019 (Apple Music). In the months around that album, Rolling Stone India and other outlets documented a working trio centred on Sarmah with Alex still on bass and a drum chair that settled on longtime collaborator Sambit Chatterjee after Deb's exit. Sleep, released 17 April 2020, flipped the script again: an ambient album born from anxiety and mental-health talk, with Rolling Stone India premiering "Let Us Try" and stressing that the record had been planned before the COVID lockdown, not as a lockdown cash-in. That July Rolling Stone India also covered their #foryourmind mental-health campaign with other Indian indie artists.

Collaborations, Singapore and the long gap

August 2021 brought "Ovotaar" with Assamese singer-composer Shankuraj Konwar, a collaboration Rolling Stone India tied to shared Jorhat roots and a Fusefest Guwahati premiere. In July 2023 Tagat reported a Singapore Grand Prix set at Marina Bay on 16 September and a next album then aimed at early 2024. The calendar slipped: Footage (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) arrived 12 July 2024 on Apple Music, and the proper fifth studio statement waited until mid-2025.

kyun? and the Rock in India door

kyun? ("why?") was released 11 July 2025 — ten tracks, Apple Music genre Prog-Rock/Art Rock, ℗ 2025 aswekeepsearching. Bandcamp's album note calls it "a tribute to the strength it takes to keep going—and to the beautiful 10-year journey we've shared as aswekeepsearching." Credits are unambiguous: Sarmah on guitars, vocals and lyrics; Robert Alex on bass; Sambitc on drums, sound design and percussion; Ajay Jayanthi on violin and strings across the album; Adhiraj Singh mixing and mastering; Tanaya Sharma on artwork. Bandcamp lists drums and bass at Stained Class Studios, Bengaluru, and vocals at Island City Studio, Mumbai, and Gray Spark Studio, Pune.

Wild City's 16 July 2025 notice heard Hindi-lyric post-rock that still remembers turn-of-the-century Indian indie, with riff energy on "shayad bhool gaye," cinematic strings on "into the mind," and ambient patience on the opener "why?" and closer "of unsaid farewells." Sarmah's quote there is the record's thesis: "This album is not just about the music—it's about the emotional landscape we have navigated and continue to navigate." Lead-in singles "you left something" (30 May 2025), "the search" (13 June) and "i'm here, with you!" (27 June) primed the album on Apple Music and Spotify. Of those, "you left something" — about 6:23 — is the cut Rock in India currently keeps at No. 74. Fresh Finds India did not carry aswekeepsearching in our 14 October 2026 snapshot; the editorial rock list did.

That placement is the quiet punchline. A band that began to "start up the scene" in Ahmedabad now sits on the same national playlist as Indian Ocean, Agam and the rest of the Rock in India cohort — still independent, still self-credited on the copyright line, still writing songs long enough to breathe. For anyone building a catalogue without a major-label radio team, that is the same release-without-a-label path written in post-rock instead of campus Hindi rock.

aswekeepsearching members

As of kyun?, the working trio is Uddipan Sarmah, Robert Alex and Sambit Chatterjee. Sarmah is the constant: founder, lyricist, guitarist and voice. Alex has been the bass anchor since the Khwaab era. Sambitc handles drums and the sound-design layer that links Sleep's ambient work to the 2025 album. Earlier chapters included Shubham Gurung (keys/guitar) and Gautam Deb (drums), both essential to the mid-2010s touring machine, plus Ashwin Naidu and Tushar Verma around the first live shows. Adhiraj Singh remains the mix/production through-line from Khwaab to kyun?. Ajay Jayanthi's strings on Zia-era work and again on kyun? are the guest signature most listeners will recognise.

Best songs: where to start

  • "you left something" (kyun?, 2025): the Rock in India entry point, Hindi longing over a six-minute arc.
  • "B-303" (Khwaab, 2015): the BlueTree house-number closer Rolling Stone India streamed as visceral post-rock.
  • "In Circles" (Growing Suspicions, 2014): the debut-EP calling card.
  • "Let Us Try" (Sleep, 2020): the ambient reset Rolling Stone India premiered.
  • "Ovotaar" (2021 single with Shankuraj Konwar): Assamese collaboration from the Fusefest Guwahati lineage.
  • "shayad bhool gaye" / "into the mind" / "why?" (kyun?, 2025): Wild City's picks for riff drive, strings and ambient patience.

Why aswekeepsearching matter

Indian rock histories often jump from Delhi campus bands to Bengaluru prog rooms and Mumbai festival bills. aswekeepsearching complicates that map: Ahmedabad origin, Pune-Mumbai logistics, Hindi lyrics inside post-rock crescendos, and enough touring range to reach Russia and a Singapore Grand Prix stage. kyun? does not reinvent the band so much as insist the question in the title is still worth asking. Rock in India's "you left something" tile is not a coronation. It is infrastructure — proof that a BlueTree Studio bet from 2013 still has voltage in 2026.

FAQ

Who is in aswekeepsearching?

The kyun? Bandcamp credits list Uddipan Sarmah (guitars, vocals, lyrics), Robert Alex (bass) and Sambitc / Sambit Chatterjee (drums, sound design, percussion), with Ajay Jayanthi on strings. Earlier albums also featured Shubham Gurung and Gautam Deb.

Where is aswekeepsearching from?

Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Rolling Stone India's first feature (2014) and the band's own origin story place the project there, even though members have long lived between Ahmedabad, Pune and Mumbai.

When did aswekeepsearching release kyun??

On 11 July 2025, according to Apple Music / iTunes (album id 1815254382) and Bandcamp. It is their first full-length studio album since Sleep (17 April 2020).

Is aswekeepsearching on Spotify's Rock in India playlist?

Yes, in our 14 October 2026 check of playlist 37i9dQZF1DX2Ja6eBQeGaS: "you left something" at No. 74. The track was first issued as a single on 30 May 2025 and also appears on kyun?.

What does the name aswekeepsearching mean?

It is stylised in lowercase as one word, pronounced "as we keep searching," and often abbreviated AWKS in press.

What genre is aswekeepsearching?

Rolling Stone India has consistently called them post-rock or ambient rock. Apple Music tags older albums as Rock and lists kyun? under Prog-Rock/Art Rock. Hindi lyrics, strings and occasional Indian percussion sit inside that frame rather than replacing it.

Sources

Cover: aswekeepsearching performing in New Delhi, India, 25 March 2021. Photo by Jishnu Chakraborty via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0. Cropped and resized to 1200×630; metadata stripped. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aswekeepsearching_playing_in_New_Delhi,_India_in_2021.jpg.