No doubt, Santa Barbara is fostering new and genuine musical talent. INDIA is a young soul-rock singer-songwriter whose transparency emanates through her upcoming EP, Shadows of Light. Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, INDIA moved to Santa Barbara in high school, where she said she felt welcomed and uplifted by the music community.
INDIA, aka India Cunningham, attended Santa Barbara High School and is also a UCSB alum. When she was 16, she joined a dad-rock band in Santa Barbara called Down Mountain Lights. “It ranged from 35-year-olds to 75- or almost 80-year-olds, and they taught me everything that I know. They pushed me right into the scene and got me up on stage. I had so much stage fright, and they got me to build up my confidence as a performer,” INDIA said.
A few years later, she played with the group at Summer Solstice and, at 19 years old, thought, “Okay, this is everything I’ve ever wanted, and it fueled my soul.”
She continued, “When I got to Santa Barbara, I saw how free every single person here was, and how everyone always builds each other up, and wants to help each other. Santa Barbara has this light that everyone can just feel. It was this lifeline for music.”
As a solo artist, she now produces her work at ParSonics Studio, the home studio of Alan Parsons, in collaboration with sound engineer and producer Noah Bruskin. “The opportunity literally just fell from the heavens right into my lap. I hadn’t ever written a song before, and so when I met them, they provided me this opportunity to create in this space, knowing that I was up and coming and just starting out,” INDIA said. Her debut single from ParSonics Studio is titled “Storm Clouds,” one of the tracks on Shadows of Light.
“It was a two-year process of writing these songs, working with Noah, and finding my artist voice and style,” INDIA said. INDIA noted that her specific musical inspirations are “Pink Floyd, Sadé, and Tracy Chapman. For this EP, it’s mainly focused on rock and soul.” INDIA’s album is a thematically transformational one full of navigational self-reflection and growth.
“For the EP, the tracks ‘Storm Clouds,’ ‘Hail to the Feeling of Control,’ and ‘Betty Lou,’ are all focused on this darkness that’s inside. I was writing for myself, but it can be generalized for everyone. There is a darker side to every person on this planet, even if it’s the most incredible, most lighthearted, beautiful human being,” INDIA said. “They still have this ounce of darkness, or a shadow self. These songs are reflective of that shadow self, and being challenged in a constant fight with your mind and then being able to pull out of it and understand that the light within you can never be extinguished.”
An album release celebration for Shadows of Light will be held at Mollusk Surf Shop in Santa Barbara. “It’s also gonna be a show that brings a whole community together with local artists selling their jewelry, paintings, prints, or whatever the hell they want. It will be a community concert night with other musicians as well,” INDIA said.
The album release event will be held on September 5 at Mollusk Surf Shop in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone. INDIA’s new song “Soft Eyes” will be released on August 17, and the Shadows of Light EP will be officially released on September 5 on Spotify. INDIA’s music can be streamed at bit.ly/4z4jYhL.
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