Gowri Jayakumar has many musical names. An versatile songwriter and musician, Jayakumar performs in at least four different musical avatars: Run Pussy Run, Kozmi Cow, Mama Kitty and Pulpy Shilpy.
Born in Trivandrum, raised in New Delhi and currently living in Pune, the former journalist let go of the media in pursuit of her true love: music. Jayakumar was 15 when she first learnt to play the guitar.
“All my friends had joined guitar classes during summer vacation,” she said. “It started there, [playing an instrument] gave me a sense of purpose.” Jayakumar described herself as an awkward person, “scattered and mostly stupid”. Making music, she felt, was the antidote to fixating on the self.
“That’s when I disappear, and there is no burden of being me,” she said. “I love that time and space are of no consequence once I get started.”
Jayakumar loves classic rock and roll: The Who, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, King Crimson, Janis Joplin and songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Nick Cave, Tom Waits, and Frank Zappa feature prominently on her list of favourites.
Communicating through music, Jayakumar has found, is almost easier than using words. “It all entails me sitting in my room, quietly writing. It’s a strange process – I take my music to the band with a vision, but have zero ability to convey it. Yet it all comes together somehow,” she said.
Pulpy Shilpy, her electronic/experimental act, ventures into a more production-based space mentally and musically. Jayakumar has also recently released a track called Kaadal Mannan as part of the Where There’s Smoke compilation by Jwala, a new Mumbai-based collective.
Jayakumar’s other band Run Pussy Run also has a debut EP in the pipeline, along with a new video for a single called Roaches, as well as a video launch tour.
Jayakumar wishes she had explored sound production earlier in her life. “I like focusing on sound, it’s is a fairly new experience for me,” she said. “Music is an ultra solitary journey for me and I am envious of people who see music as a naturally collaborative process. I can discover new worlds of sound by myself, but put me in a room full of musicians for an impromptu jam and I freeze.”
