The Boston-based indie-pop artist makes music that feels like memory — soft-focus, sun-drenched, and just a little pixelated at the edges. On “Shine,” his newest single, Sheel captures that weightless in-between space where something tender is blooming, but no one’s said it out loud yet.
Built on a blend of warm ukulele strums, hazy guitar triplets, and synth lines that sound like they were lifted from a Game Boy, “Shine” lives in the golden hour. It’s part indie-pop daydream, part slow-burn confession — a track that doesn’t rush to get where it’s going, because it knows the beauty is in the not-knowing.
Sheel’s sound is shaped by his background: raised by a Hindustani classical vocalist father, schooled in raagas and breath control, but equally obsessed with guitar gods like Buckethead and Paul Gilbert. It shows — not in show-off solos, but in how effortlessly he weaves East and West, tradition and experimentation, into something that feels natural, not forced.
His earlier tracks, like “More Than Friends” and “Over You,” earned him a spot on radars from blogs to Wonderland Magazine, but “Shine” feels different. More distilled. More confident in its softness. It doesn’t try to prove anything. It just is — nostalgic, vulnerable, and glowing with quiet intent.
If you ever loved someone and couldn’t say it, if you’ve ever wished a moment could stretch out forever, “Shine” will hit you right in the chest. And with more music on the way, it’s clear that Varun Sheel is building his own universe.