Exclusive Premiere: Seasonal Affected Beats and Luka Team Up For Wavy Eco-Conscious Song ‘To Bend or Break’

Following the shimmering, near unpredictable EP 2° in March last year, New Delhi drummer and producer Tarun Balani turns his attention to the climate crisis with his project Seasonal Affected Beats’ upcoming EP In Song. “To Bend or Break,” the first single off the EP strikes a balance of calm and urgent with Dutch singer-songwriter Luka aka Lisa Lukaszczyk.

Balani says he’d come across Luka’s music in 2018, particularly a live version of her song “River” and their respective management teams connected about a possible collaboration. He adds, “Through Zoom writing sessions we started to get to know each other and both of us deeply resonated with the subject of the current climate crisis which became the driving force behind the track. It’s been such a wonderful experience to collaborate and work with her and I can’t wait to actually meet her in person.”

The drummer and producer confirms that the new EP brings forward “characteristic sounds” that were heard on 2°. However, he adds that there’s a “strong focus on songwriting and lyrics versus a more improvised and a performative approach that I’d taken on 2°.”

Luka, for her part, says in a press statement that “To Bend or Break” was written keeping a “changing landscape” in mind, one that won’t return to its original state. “With the visibility of climate change, we are aware of what we stand to lose and in the song, I am processing how to deal with and questions how to act on it,” she adds.

The four-track In Song has been written keeping the global climate crisis in mind and was spurred on by environmental disasters which Balani came across over time. “I am simply unable to write about another subject, especially when I read about the floods in UP which killed 9 people or the raging wildfires in Greece and Turkey due to extreme heat,” Balani says in a statement. The full EP will release in November.

Listen to “To Bend or Break” below.