Kitanu Turn to Prog on Nimble New Song ‘How The Tables Turn’

New Delhi act Kitanu’s sarod-infused style of alternative music swerves further on their new song “How The Tables Turn,” incorporating prog and jazz with drummer-producer Rijul Victor.

The follow-up to their 2021 self-titled debut EP, Kitanu wrote “How The Tables Turn” in 2022 and found a willing collaborator in Victor, who makes music under the moniker Corridors and is part of prog metal band Colossal Figures. Kitanu’s vocalist Siddhant Sarkar recounts how he and Victor lived in the same neighborhood, which led to the drummer tagging along and being part of band practice.

It led to the artists collaborating on three tracks together, one of which is the seven-minute “How The Tables Turn.”  There’s an exuberance and soulfulness that appears at different points in the song, but the lyrics actually delve into a breakup. “Although, this is an energetic and upbeat song the lyrics and emotion convey heartbreak and how the tables turn when a relationship ends and two people separate, how from being so close you end up becoming total strangers,” he says.  

Sonically, guitarist Omkar Raghupatruni says the main finger-picking chord progression draws from banjo playing. Sarod artist Rohan Prasanna’s playing doesn’t seem front and center compared to their previous releases, but he chalks it down to the key and tuning that makes the sarod “sound less prominent.”

There’s more of a rhythm-focused approach from Prasanna, who says he has at sometimes questioned whether he was losing his classical style of playing sarod while adapting to different genres. Nevertheless, there’s a jugalbandi section in “How The Tables Turn” where Prasanna brings it all back. “I keep myself on edge of exploration of what can be done fresh which still gives justice to the emotion of the music,” he adds.

Victor, for his part, jokes about how you can take him out of a prog band but can’t take the progressive rock aesthetics out of him. He does add that there wasn’t a “conscious thought” to make the song prog-influenced. “But it is just a natural state of how my brain flows and writes music and that just came naturally when I was working with the members of Kitanu,” he says. Raghupatruni adds that “there is no line anymore” in terms of genre restrictions or influences for the band, where it’s more about making something meaningful.

Bassist Pranav Wahi says the next two songs with Victor’s contributions are “really different from each other.” He adds, “There’s no specific sound or vibe that they stick to. That’s one of the reasons we’re releasing these songs as singles because they’re not similar in any way.” Raghupatruni says these new songs, including one called “Carcasses” that existed before Victor was part of Kitanu, are “energetic and a little heavy than usual.” Sarkar adds, “For future releases also…you can expect more diverse music from us but in a way, you’ll feel that we will still stick to our sound.”