Tarang Joseph insists that he is a stubborn guy. “I do my thing, and if it doesn’t feel right, I can’t do it,” says the Bengaluru-based singer, pianist, and songwriter, with a disarming smile.
His new single, One Track Mind, a disco-funk track with nu-jazz elements, echoes this perspective: it is about breaking free from expectations and choosing your own path.
“I’d betrayed myself so many times by saying yes, I’ll do that when I don’t want to, it is not what my gut and heart are telling me to do,” he says. One Track Mind, he says, is a “scream from my gut for betraying myself and my heart too many times.”
Society, Tarang believes, constantly asks artists to conform and fit themselves into a mould, an expectation he finds stultifying. “I’ve been doing time and facing retribution…for all the times I’ve lied and caused any confusion…I know I’ll be alright…but man, there’s something heavy resting on my soul,” he croons in his single. “After all these years, I’m tired of doing what I’m told…don’t waste your time because I’ve got a one-track mind.”
One Track Mind, which amassed over 16,000 listeners in less than a week,, is something Tarang has been working on for a while. “I grew up on that kind of music. My mom loved ABBA,” he says. Early Michael Jackson and Jamiroquai also inspired him; the latter pioneered acid jazz, a genre that blends disco, funk, and soul music, incorporating elements of jazz. “I draw a lot of influence from that. “
While the melodies and lyrics are largely his, the single was co-written with his band in the old-school way. Since the band plays live weekly at ZLB23, the Kyoto speakeasy at The Leela Palace Bengaluru, “we improvise because it’s a jazz venue.” They came up with ideas on the fly a lot, Tarang explains, and when an idea was “magical”, Tarang would record it on his phone.
One Track Mind, which features a band-style arrangement, emerged in this manner. “The first drop for this was a jam. Then I started recording because I could feel something here.”
This is the 25-year-old’s 15th release; he has already put out nine singles and an EP, he says. “I’ve been releasing music since my 11th grade, so it has been a long time. I started with electronic music, then rock music. After that, I got into R&B, soul, funk, disco thing,” says Tarang, who grew up in a house filled with music, started by listening to old Disney songs.
Then there was Billy Joel, “on every car ride to Trivandrum, a 15-odd-hour drive from Bengaluru. I know every song from his discography,” he recalls, with a smile. Apart from Joel, his father used to play a lot of jazz in the house, he says. Also, old ‘80s music as well as “the classic rock stuff that most people’s parents listen to, like the Beatles and the Eagles. My dad is a huge fan of Jethro Tull because he plays the flute.”
His parents tell him that he was musically inclined even as a child, says Tarang, who has been taking piano lessons since he was four years old. “I was good at maths, so my parents put me in summer camp for it, but I didn’t like it.”
So his father brokered a bargain: he could quit math camp if he agreed to attend the piano classes next door, instead. His piano teacher, Roopa Shetty, “taught me for 12 years, from the age of four. I owe her a lot. I would not have such a good relationship with my instrument if not for her.” The piano, as he got older, became a “spiritual thing.”
Tarang and his band
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
Despite Tarang writing “really bad songs” at the age of 13 or 14, his father, “a very creative guy”, encouraged him right from the start. Tarang even joined Taaqademy Academy, founded by the Bengaluru-based rock band Thermal And A Quarter, and started his own band around then.
The band, called Fleeting Glimpse (inspired by the lyrics of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb), mostly played covers of classic rock songs before venturing into original music, performing at various venues in Bengaluru.
“I don’t think I really found my creative voice and joy for it until I was in high school,” he says. Once he did, however, his music became seamless and started to flow. “Everything came from a place of emotion, feeling and gut. I’ve been riding that wave for a long time.”
While the band disbanded when its members went to different colleges, Tarang continued to write and create music. “When I was finally ready to gig and put together another band, COVID hit.” Tarang saysthis proved to be unexpectedly fortuitous since the record producers who were usually busy with prominent artists were now free. “I got to work with a good record producer, who now had the time to take a newbie like me.”
In 2024, he released his debut EP, Liquid Sunshine, “the first project that was cohesive…the first time I had a sound that was uniquely mine,” says Tarang, adding that the EP was named one of the Best EPs of 2024 by The Indian Music Diaries. Other things he is proud of include being featured on BBC UK and Spotify’s Indian Indie English, playing at festivals like Echoes of Earth and sharing stages with Peter Cat Recording Co., The F16S, Dot, Till Apes, and Mali. Next on his list, he says, is his sophomore EP, beginning with ‘One Track Mind’. “We are also geared up to begin our India tour, which will happen in two legs, in November and February.”
