Today, Himanshu ‘HEEMS’ Suri releases his new album, VEENA LP, via his own VEENA COMPANY label. His second full-length album this year, produced by Sid Vashi, includes previously released singles “MANTO” featuring Vijay Iyer, “DAME,” “RAKHI,” featuring Pavvan and Ajji, as well as the song released earlier this week “FLOWERS” featuring Sri Lankan artist Navz-47.
The album’s release is paired with the announcement of VEENA COMPANY’s signing of New York-based trio AFK who will be releasing their upcoming EP on November 1st. Though not much is known about the emerging trio at this point, Heems divulges that with the artists on the scene, “New York is in good hands.” He adds, “There’s a feel to AFK’s music that reminds me of growing up in New York when it wasn’t safe to go outside. It’s a New York I recognize from old movies and one that I don’t necessarily miss but am happy to revisit. I am really excited about bringing these guys forward. I was looking for South Asian artists but couldn’t wait a second to make them our first signing.”
VEENA LP is a confessional record confronting trauma across its many forms – generational, familial, and complex. These elements – family, home, the play of language and brave musical choices – brim through VEENA LP. The album arrives amidst a tear of productivity after years of seeming stillness. Named after his mother and the musical instrument, more is becoming known about COMPANY. We know there’s vinyl, shawls and coconut oil. We’ve seen the tagline “here and there” which is also where GQ has written about it.. We know the editorial has featured award winning writers Kaveh Akbar, Sarah Mathews, and Mayukh Sen. Heems has hinted that The Kid Mero and NBC 4 New York’s morning anchor Darlene Rodriguez are involved in the upcoming HOME issue.
Tethering VEENA LP together are voicemail skits from a who’s-who of India’s global creative community. No Doubt’s Tony Kanal, Bollywood director Zoya Akhtar, frequent collaborator Riz Ahmed, and more check in, voicing appreciation for their friend’s work and constant mentions of his health, hinting at the burden that very same work is placing on him. “Several of the voicemails are real,” Heems revealed. Moments like these are most revelatory on the project. We see how a group of artists sharing a cultural background encourage and support one another as a community. Only Heems, who is a curator after all, could put together such an ensemble, where Arooj (Aftab), Avan (Jogia), and Ankur (Tiwary) stand side by side.
About VEENA COMPANY:
VEENA CO. is a multi-local music business connecting artists with their fans. Founded by an artist, Himanshu “Heems” Suri, VEENA COMPANY is inspired by Queens, NY, where the global and local intertwine so seamlessly the terms are rendered obsolete. We live at the intersections – of culture and commerce, physical and digital, old and new, and here and there. COMPANY is artist-designed, community-grown, and built for dialogue.
Designed and led by the artist Himanshu Suri, our artists are family and we put family first. Our artists join the same equity pool as employees, receive generous advances, short-term licenses, budget for a community non profit activation, only one option for LP2, and then the option to accelerate is theirs. COMPANY functions as a MUSIC D2C ACCELERATOR where artists work towards receiving their own record label, financial support, distribution with lower fees, their own sustainable D2C brand, and all the support they’ll need. We connect their Local with fans in all the others. Editorial is the foundation from which we built and will always be a part of our DNA.
VEENA MUSIC is the music division of COMPANY. It is a genre-agnostic, multilingual record label that also offers worldwide distribution, artist services, and both bespoke management. Everywhere is local and everywhere is global. Our presence in the US, UK, Canada, and India and market-specific management means we can walk our artists into our markets through the front door. We diagnose the roadblocks artists face to global expansion and prescribe strategies to remove them.
VEENA DIRECT is the D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) arm of COMPANY, focusing on the physical aspect of music and sustainable products from around the world. DIRECT grows from our founder Heems passion for collecting rare vinyl, contemporary art, books, and of course Hermes scarves. Vinyl records, designer quality tees, organic coconut oil, and our upcoming shawls were our first offering. We aim to elevate merchandise beyond traditional band t-shirts to fashion statements that carry cultural significance, like our shawls for example which follow his parents path from India to New York.
