Hear Boston Prog Rock Band Satva’s Sparkling Debut ‘Change’

In the competitive hub that is Berklee College of Music in Boston, sticking together counts for a lot. Mumbai-based drummer Ranbir Kapoor (who had a short stint with metallers The Minerva Conduct) and vocalist-guitarist Kabir Hiranandani had known each other as adolescents in school bands but reconnected once they found each other at Berklee a few years later.

Hiranandani was writing prog, fusion and jazz-leaning material and shared it with Kapoor, which led to the creation of prog rock band Satva about two years ago. Kapoor says, “I was immediately excited cause it was something different to my ears from all the prog I was listening to so I was immediately down to make music with him [Hiranandani].” One of those early compositions is “Change,” which is now out as Satva’s debut single.

The song took shape just as Hiranandani was still studying vocals as his primary instrument at Berklee, after which he shifted to guitar. “Change” brings together a laidback, sublime kind of vocal style (drawing from Hiranandani’s influences of Bon Iver, Tim Misch and Tame Impala), soaring guitar work and impeccable prog drumming.

Now the best of friends out in Berklee, Satva plans to move to Los Angeles soon after graduation ”“ Hiranandani will complete his course this summer and Kapoor in 2020 ”“ but before that, there’s a performance at the college tonight. Hiranandani says, “We’ll be playing our five song EP in its entirety and we’ll be accompanied by our good friends from Berklee ”“ Subharaj Das Ghosh on guitar and Mickey Jamieson on bass.”

Listen to “Change” below: