All things between madness and tranquillity

Twenty-one-year-old Sanjana’s album MADM is an amalgamation of thoughts and ideas gathered over a year and put together artfully with the help of producer duo Marti Bharath and Tapass Naresh AKA Sapta. As perspectives changed and ideas developed, so did the writing process. Hence, the album was recorded in three different studios. “The album has thoughts that weren’t built overnight. Rather, they’ve been marinating for a long time and it’s extremely liberating to be able to put them down on paper and sing them. Each song has a story of its own and I enjoyed writing every single one of them. We (Sapta and I) started working on the album a year ago and it’s been such a fulfilling journey so far. We will soon be announcing the dates for our album launch tour,” says Sanjana. 

Picking from a multi-cultural hodgepodge of influences, MADM finds a way to express a deep metropolitan malaise. Intermittently, and with grace, she reveals a cautious optimism in the form of simple melody. The album has seven tracks. The song Mother and Caroline made it to Apple Music’s The A List: Indian Pop, while Straight up made it to Apple’s Breaking Indiepop Chart, a coveted list of the best songs that are chosen in a particular season. “Most of these songs were written while jamming with Marti. He’d just modify it and add new sounds. I would hear the melody line in my head and pen it down. Some of the other songs were written when I locked myself up in my room, played the keyboard and sang gibberish,” adds Sanjana.

Sanjana, an indietronica artiste, says the scope for independent musicians has become better over the years. For the uninitiated, indietronica, also known as indie electronic, indietronic, indietronics and lap-pop, is a music genre that combines indie rock with elements of electronic music styles such as IDM, electro house and glitch. Speaking about the indie scene in the city, she says, “The indie scene in Chennai has great potential. We have so many talented musicians here. Now, people are coming out more to watch gigs and support the scene. We’re hoping to have more venues and music festivals in Chennai. Having said that, there’s still a long way to go.”