Komorebi is an electronic-alternative act from New Delhi, India and the musical baby of Tarana Marwah, composer, singer-producer and instrumentalist. Her latest release is a single called ‘Rebirth’, a coming-of-age song about overcoming obstacles, that for the artist, represents feminine strength.
‘Rebirth’ pays homage to all the electronica music that came out in the 90’s (Bjork, Massive Attack, Garbage, Radiohead…) which continually inspires the artist. The track features Tarana’s smooth vocals and electronica undertones and also includes Indian instrumentation (a sitar hook) and layered harmonies which add flavour and larger-than-life pop dynamism to the song.
Komorebi has always been heavily inspired by Japanese anime. Even her moniker is a Japanese word, Komorebi, which in simple terms means the interplay between light and leaves when sunlight shines through trees. Whilst releasing the single, Komorebi also paired it by dropping a music video. The symbols in the music video are based on the theme of the track, featuring an animated ‘female warrior’ (in signature Komorebi style) figure who often breaks the fourth wall and emotes/sings/showcases her weapons while interacting with the audience. The video was designed and animated by Improper Design’s Mehr Chatterjee and Aditya Dutta – features a glossy blue and pink persona mouthing the words to the song against city backdrops, mountains, space and more. The video is inspired by mixed-media content from worlds like Cartoon Network and bands like [British virtual outfit] Gorillaz. Tarana adds, “We wanted to construct a female warrior type character who reacts to the different environments around her, sometimes seemingly trapped in an alien world. Singing and fighting back in style.”
Lyrically, ‘Rebirth’ is an “almost-clap-back” song with an important message. Tarana explains further, “I’ve felt very powerless against external factors in my life before, and craved reassurance and support which I never got at the time. So, it’s from me now to me then.” She adds, “I wanted to share that strength with other young girls who tend to feel lost or isolated in their adolescence, but are too afraid to articulate it.”
Besides the singles, Tarana is also in the process of releasing 10 remixes of various Komorebi tracks, 6 of which are for ‘Rebirth’. These remixes range from a chill-step version by Nishcay Parekh (of Parekh & Singh), to a progressive rock version by Delhi based guitarist and producer Yatin Srivastava.
