A singer-songwriter and pianist based in Bangalore, Tarang Joseph is originally from Kerala, but born in Malaysia and raised in California. Exposed to numerous styles of western music from an extremely young age influencing his musical tastes and palate.
The artist has traversed many styles and genres proving to be versatile as both a songwriter and a musical performer. Tarang has released 9 singles so far. In a conversation with us, he talks about his journey so far.
1. Tell us a bit about your project. How did you begin your journey as a singer-songwriter?
I grew up in a musical household. My mum met my dad cause they played together in the same band in college.
Naturally, thanks to my parents, music was a large part of my upbringing. I was put in classical piano lessons when I was 4 years old, where I learned for 14 years. I was also put in Carnatic vocal lessons from when I was 8 . I’ve also taken Tabla lessons & bass guitar lessons, so yeah music education was definitely a large part of my upbringing.
Although I was a shy kid growing up, I did like performing for some reason.
Thanks to the support of my parents, and some family friends that were into programming events in the live music space, over the next couple years I got opportunities that led to me performing around various clubs, fests, and bars around Bangalore including Bflat Bar, the Sunday Soul Sante, from when I was a little kid and over the years I morphed from a shy kid into a very confident and experienced performer.
My first experiences with songwriting began when in the 9th grade.
I was a big fan of the Beatles at the time and heard legendary stories of them and how they wrote their albums. I did write a few songs back then. They were all pretty bad, but I was just having fun with it honestly.
Later when I was 14, a few musically inclined kids and myself started a rock band called “Fleeting Glimpse.” It was mostly classic rock music, we played a lot of covers as well as some original music which I wrote. So I did have some songwriting experience but I don’t think I ever found my voice in any deep, meaningful way until a few years later..
My first published song as an independent artist was actually an EDM song, where I sang vocals on a project produced by a friend under his EDM alias called “Astra” at the time. The song is called “Sunset Runaway”
We released it while we were in the 11th grade in 2017, and it blew up online on Youtube and Facebook!
A famous producer at the time called Tom Swoon shared it and it picked up steam and gained support from some of the biggest names in the electronic industry like Axwell & Hardwell.
One thing led to another and my Facebook page had tons of messages over the course of the next week from EDM artists across the world asking me to sing on their track.
It was truly wild experience , and perhaps funnily enough the most “success” I would experience for a long time in my career.
However, I didn’t pursue any of those leads as I didn’t feel that passionate about the EDM thing. It was still a crazy experience.
You can actually hear the song here if you’d like:
When I was in the 12th grade in 2018, I faced some tough times.
I lost a close friend of mine to suicide, and that was a real blow to my mental health. I’d stepped away from music almost entirely for a solid 2 months or so, and it was a rather dark period for me.
2 months later I came back to music, but I remember feeling differently about it. All my life up until that point my relationship with music had been one of technicality and performance. It was practiced and goal oriented.
When I came back to it after a 2 month hiatus I felt a need to express, and I sat down at the piano with no plan or agenda other than to express.
I began writing songs from a place of expression, and it was like catharsis. It felt like a blissful flow, and i felt spiritually connected to music in a way I hadn’t before. It really helped me cope with the struggles I was going through at the time.
I ended up writing a song and creating a music video to promote mental health awareness, which you can watch here:
Ever since that time period, I decided I wanted to pursue this, to follow where my curiosity took me, to follow my flow state, and that’s how I decided to become a songwriter.
I officially launched my solo project in 2020 and since then I have released 10 singles and collaborated with many artists in the industry such as RANJ, Mary Ann, Frizzell Dsouza, Apartment Upstairs, and more.
It’s been an interesting journey full of ups and downs.
2. Which bands/artists were your first love and who is your biggest influence?
As a young kid, most of my music taste came from my parents and older brother. I grew up listening to Billy Joel’s greatest hits on every road trip to visit my grandparents in Kerala, so Billy Joel was huge for me and perhaps even today inspires my playing as a pianist.
Everything was basically my dad and mum’s music taste. So there was lots of the Beatles, Queen, Billy Joel and classic rock stuff from my dad , and a lot of disco/pop from my mom like ABBA, the Bee Gees, Boneyham ,Michael Jackson.
My dad also listened to a lot of jazz, and we used to go to jazz shows when I was a kid living in San Francisco.
Currently my influences are varied, but I would say my favorite artists range from funk and disco legends Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai, Daft Punk to alt rock like Radiohead & Jeff Buckley, to lots of Rnb stuff like D’Angelo, Frank Ocean and Daniel Caesar, etc.
I’m also a big fan of the classical pianist Debussy and jazz pianist Bill Evans.
3. Tell us a bit about your upcoming EP ‘Liquid Sunshine.’
Liquid Sunshine is about that elusive,warm feeling of summer. I thought “liquid sunshine” was the perfect word for it. It could either describe an emotion, or a literal drink, that encapsulated the essence of summer every time you got a taste. I want people to be transported when they listen to this projec
About the EP – retro – summer – 80s – upbeat – disco
The EP tracklist features 4 tracks ( to be announced soon), that are all written in the form of a narrative of the protagonist with his partner that he thinks is “the love of his life”.
Set in the summer, and meant to be a love letter to the 80s both musically and aesthetically.
The EP tells the protagonist’s story as he moves through the intense experiences of his first love as a teenager. Dealing first with infatuation, to moving on and discovering the novelty and beyond this relationship.
Meant to be high energy, dancey, energising, and nostalgic.
Musical Inspiration and Writing:
Around late 2022 until the summer of 2023 I was listening to a lot of disco music and other styles from the 80s. A lot of old school stuff like Michael Jackson & Jamiroquai, as well as modern forms of disco like Parcels and Franc Moody.
At the same time I wrote these songs, I had the Silk Sonic album on repeat, and was really inspired by how they revived 70s soul in the modern day.
I wanted to bring back sounds from the 80s in a similar fashion, fuse that with modern elements of house music and Nu disco, but do it entirely with live instrumentation to create something that sounded both nostalgic and fresh at the same time.
The Design/ Visualisers/ Artwork:
For the visuals, we wanted to draw influence from retro styles. The aesthetic of all the visual imagery has a film grain, and the set design is an old school aesthetic, to portray that this EP is a love letter to older forms of music, and capture the visual aesthetic of that era as well.
Future Plans:
Post the release of the EP, we are planning an 80s themed Disco club tour, as well as vintage themed merch! Im really excited for it.
4. What is your music-making and recording process like?
Well there are some things that are constant and some things are quite variable.
I usually write the music first, and then the lyrics, in a stream of consciousness style to the music.
That’s kind of constant.
The way I make the music though, is perhaps what I find most fascinating about pursuing this whole thing. While I am most comfortable on the piano and do start many songs with that, I have grown extremely fascinated with the idea that starting on different instruments tends to lead to very different outcomes.
For this last EP I started all the writing with the basslines first, and I think in consequence of my limited knowledge of the bass allowed for me to use it as a creative instrument to create simple and Disco songs catchy songs.
While I usually write all the parts myself and play them myself, this time my band helped with the finish final arrangements on these songs, and helped record the parts.
Recording wise, with the help of producer Amrith Raghunathan (Till Apes producer), I usually record everything the old school way. We record every channel and all the instruments were played live on this record, including the drums.
We recorded it analog at Stained Class Productions, in Bangalore.
5. Why do you make music? What drives you as a musician and what are your songs about?
I think I have a pretty, spiritual relationship with music and art in general.
I think music, poetry and art are a light in the darkness to me. They speak things that can’t be articulated.
Making music is beautiful to me, its full of exploration, and you can express in this language that other people understand. Like if you make something that you has something special in it, chances are that other people see that too, and you don’t even need to explain it to them. So yeah, i find that quite fascinating.
I think what drives me, is the sheer feeling of tapping into higher, the feeling of exploration and possibility, and the meaning you can create and the stories you can tell in a piece of art.
My songs are usually about life experiences. A lot of it is about experiences of love, nostalgia, grief, starting afresh, etc.
I would like to write about more serious topics, but I would like for that to come from a place of authenticity. I am still quite young, so hopefully in the next couple years you hear more mature topics.
6. Which Indian bands or artists do you admire? And why?
I’m a big fan of Peter Cat Recording Co. I love their whole vintage meets psychedelic-disco sound. Their production is insane, and so unique
I’m also a big fan of Dot, again for her simple, retro/broadway style. I love Mali’s songwriting so much.
I also really admire Till Apes, they really brought the whole new wave neo soul meets hip hop to the local scene.
7. What’s your take on the independent music scene in India?
I think its an interesting local community that we have here. Sometimes it feels so small cause everybody knows everyone and we’re all a bunch of oddballs pursuing the same hobby.
At the same time, these days it feels like I hear about a new artist every 2 weeks, so during those moments it seems quite overwhelmingly large.
