Singer-songwriter Riya Mahesh, known onstage as Quiet Light, has an ear for sentimentality. The classically trained pianist’s sound shines in her careful arrangements, balancing electronica with eclectic samples and acoustic folk instruments. Mahesh’s soundscapes are constructed like a dream sequence. Pitchfork has described her sonic world as one with a “loose logic and hazy texture that never quite spells out the whole story.”
Quiet Light has entered the orbit of artists in and surrounding Copenhagen’s alternative-indie scene, a corner of the music world that has become a fixation for hipsters and publications alike. Previously, Quiet Light has opened for acts like Chanel Beads, Cameron Winter, and Erika de Casier, and her songs have been regularly featured on Spotify’s Cph+ playlist.
I first discovered Quiet Light the last time she was in Los Angeles, supporting Fine at her October TunedIn show. Half a year later, Quiet Light was performing at a sold-out Zebulon – the finale of her first headlining tour.
Mahesh tiptoed onstage in a delicate pink mesh slip, queuing “Miniskirt” on her laptop. The track, two minutes of scattered vocals over humming synths, immersed listeners in the world of Quiet Light. In an interview with Alternative Press, Mahesh discusses the everyday mundaneities that inspired Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2. She states, “‘Miniskirt’ was one of the first songs that I wrote for the record. I was on a bus in Boston in April 2024, and it was raining. I was wearing a miniskirt and was mesmerized by the sun shining through the clouds.”
Like the changing weather, Quiet Light’s performance is full of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it subtleties. She shuffles around the stage as she sings, wrapping the mic cable around her arms. Her laptop and an audio mixer brought a piece of her bedroom studio onstage. Mahesh bridged her tracks together with a practiced coolness, allowing concertgoers to seamlessly drift from one song to the next.
The crowd cheered as the moaning chords of “Berlin” filled the Zebulon. The critically acclaimed lead single on Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2 has proven itself as a crowd favorite. “Berlin” is a nod to Mahesh’s double life, building her career as a pop star while attending medical school. Mahesh explains to Fader that her music fills the liminal space between the hospital and the stage. She reflects, “My music has emerged from a state of sort of dreaming. In the hospital, sometimes that is necessary. There’s a lot of healing, as well as death. Sometimes you have to believe everything will be okay and that there’s, you know, heaven.”
Ooh, why are you always fighting your friends? /
You’re at the ER getting stitches again /
The blood, it pours down your head
– Riya Mahesh on “Berlin”
Blue Angel Sparkling Silver 2 is Quiet Light’s first release since signing with True Panther Records, sparking a move to Los Angeles and a blossoming career. Despite the record deal, Mahesh is still determined to hold onto normalcy, continuing that “The idea that musicians [have to give] everything to music is kind of an illusion.” She cites labelmate Oklou as an artist balancing new motherhood with a career and creative peak. “I feel so intensely about music that if I let it drive my entire life, I would really alienate a lot of my friends and family, and the structures in my life that keep me going,” she adds. “I’m trying to avoid self-destruction.”
Although the night’s setlist was dominated by her most recent album, I was excited to see her perform “Love90,” my favorite track off her 2024 album Going Nowhere. The song is quintessential Quiet Light – lyrics with a nondescript longing, addressed to an elusive but powerful “you.” She pleads, “Does it kill you that I can’t get it right?” Her vulnerability is raw, relatable, and entirely captivating– a performance that feels like confession and lands with heartache.
She glides into “Star100,” a rework of the previous track. In its sister track, “Love90”’s reimagination is faster, upbeat. The bouncing synths build tension before winding down into a sample of garbled laughter and disjointed musings about midlife crises and Bagel Bites. The playful, ambient production blurs the lines between memory and fantasy.
Mahesh rounded out the night with a cover of “Brooklyn Baby.” The song, a rite of passage for every 2010s Tumblr user, was right at home with Quiet Light. Though she hails from Austin, Texas, her music reminds me of girls living on the urban coasts, growing up on bedroom pop and wearing ballet flats to trek on mucked-up sidewalks. Quiet Light’s voice was laced with a palpable longing, staring pensively into the crowd as she sang. Her performance proved, undoubtedly, that Quiet Light is a rising star worth watching.
