As We Grew Up

Bennett Bay is a musician based in Singapore whose sound is inspired by everyday occurrences, personal values and pastoral imagery. An acoustic guitar stands at the very core of his music, with flourishes of string quartets and brass trios in an attempt to keep the music as simple and natural as possible. His music harkens to Sigur Rós, Explosions in The Sky and Nick Drake. Bennett debuted his first solo performance at the Esplanade Concourse back in 2015 and was invited to perform at the first inaugural Neon Lights Festival held at the Fort Canning Park. He was one of four local musicians to play alongside international acts such as Damien Rice, Rachael Yamagata, Mogwai and more. He was also the first Singaporean musician to perform at the annual Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland, alongside renowned acts such as The XX, London Grammar and Phoenix. Bennett has been making his mark in the local arts scene ever since, landing an endorsement deal with Maestro Guitars, a local brand of handcrafted guitars that is based in Singapore.

His debut single, Komorebi, was released in April 2016 followed by his debut LP, Compass, in January 2017, which was accompanied by a launch show where Bennett was joined by a 12-piece ensemble. Compass tells the story of a family whose eldest child is missing and follows this child’s progression into the wilderness as he/she attempts to find his/her way back home. Bennett went on to release his second album, In Memory Of, in September of 2018, an album dedicated to the memory of a late friend. In January of 2020, Bennett released a three-song EP entitled Little Old Town, featuring songs that he wrote on a solo trip to Japan. Bennett is currently in the midst of releasing a solo acoustic guitar album. The album will see a collection of songs written by Bennett over the course of 2020, and features music written for solo acoustic fingerstyle guitar to revisit his most fundamental roots in music. He released a single, titled Old Cottage in April of 2021, as well as a single titled Empty Train Waltz in December of 2021. The full album is set to be released in February of 2023.

Over the years, Bennett has worked closely with local theatre company Patch and Punnet, and has composed music as well as done sound design for various projects such as The Adventures of Abhijeet, Fika and Fishy, Lil’ Shake Vol. 1 & 2, The Secret Life of Haw Par Villa, and McBeat and The Lil’ Shake Crew. More recently, he is the composer for the original musical in The Paiseh Pieces produced by The Second Breakfast Company.

An industrial designer by trade, Ian Tan has a penchant for working with his hands across his two biggest passions: design and music. By day, he works on VIVIWARE Panel, a modular furniture system for children and makerspaces, and shapes young minds at VIVITA, a social impact organisation that aims to nurture the next generation of creative children. By night, he trades tools for drumsticks. He is the founding member and drummer for instrumental rock band hauste. He loves to explore emotive soundscapes layered with musical technicality through his drumming and has performed at notable festivals such as Baybeats and Sofar Sounds with hauste, as well as Neon Lights with Bennett Bay.

Nadya Zaheer is a singer and actress who graduated with a BA(Hons) Musical Theatre degree from LASALLE College of the Arts in 2021. When she’s not performing, you’ll find her either teaching Musical Theatre to her kiddos at SingTheatre Academy, singing with MOTUS as their lead vocalist, managing events as a project manager at Strawberries Inc. or writing her own music to release with Mosta Records. She looks forward to playing a role in the ever-growing performance scene in Singapore.