Home is where the heart is

KOCHI: “What makes you feel at home?” is no straightforward question. Home could be a country where you’ve lived your entire life, a corner in your house where you snuggle in with a book or it could be a person. More or less, home is where you’ve shared joy, laughter and your vulnerability. For most of us, the lockdown provided an unmistakable picture of what genuinely felt like home and how distance makes the heart grow fonder. Kochi-based songwriter and singer Jeremiah de Rozario’s debut single ‘Run to the Ocean’ encapsulates the same. “The song is about the kind of homes we make in people,” he says.

The folk-pop song with an intimate arrangement supplemented by acoustics is addictive at best. Replete with ‘happy vibes’, it also invokes sweet nostalgia. Working with a corporate firm in Kozhikode for the past two years, the lockdown ceased Jeremiah’s travel back home. 

“When I was overwhelmed by homesickness, I slowed down and allowed my consciousness of home to sink in; The bad jokes, the sounds of laughter, stupid fights and the late-night jamming sessions with friends and family,” says Jeremiah. While the song was written as a metaphor for Fort Kochi, where Jeremiah grew up, it is not to be mistaken with the place. “It is more about the senses. Run to the Ocean seeks to remind us about the faces, the smells, the love and the longing to run back ‘home’,” the 25-year-old says. 

After the four-month-long writing process, one of his friends Ashwin Nath helped Jeremiah get in touch with Rahul Ranganath, a producer at Bengaluru-based production house Monohive. “I was particular about not incorporating electronics instruments. The whole process was completed online. Rahul was the lead guitarist, while I handled the acoustics,” he says.

Following the song release, the official video was released. A compilation of different people revelling in a plethora of moments, there couldn’t have been a better video to capture the essence of the song. “The video was created by Malavika Anupraj and album art was developed by Anna Ben. I didn’t have any initial plans for a video but Ashwin Gopakumar, vocalist with ‘When Chai Met Toast’ convinced me to release a video. Anna suggested asking random people to send in videos of their version of ‘home’. The response was fantastic and Malavika weaved a story out of it,” he explains.

Jeremiah (@jeremiahderozario) has been doing cover songs and collaborations for more than four years. “Jamming and gigging were more like a passion,” he says. While pursuing his MBA, Jeremiah happened to join a band named ‘Accupella’. “Nivea Keshav and Gaius Cherian were the ones who made me half-serious about my music career,” says Jeremiah. Run to the ocean is now streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Gaana and Wynk. The video is available on YouTube.