Exclusive Stream: Psychedelic-Jazz Act Sage for the Ages Preview Debut Album with Heartfelt ‘Song For Neto’

How many artists are willing to tour to promote an album before it releases? Bengaluru-bred musician Kirtana Krishna has the answer – her psychedelic/jazz band Sage For The Ages have just wrapped up a 11-date tour to promote their upcoming album Second Nature.

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Krishna – who formed Sage For The Ages with pianist Aman Mahajan, bassist Dhani Muniz, producer and multi-instrumentalist Varun Rao, drummer Raul Mattia Proietti and vocalist Anushka Gunputh – admits it’s an “unorthodox” route. She adds, “I was inspired by some of my idols who would just get in a car and drive around their country playing their music to the people. Whether the songs had been released or not didn’t seem to matter to them, and it’s not really a problem for us either.”

The long and short of it is that, like several musicians believe (especially in the jazz space), you need to see Sage For The Ages live to “really see what we are about.” Ahead of Second Nature releasing later this month, you can hear their track “Song For Neto” exclusively below.

Recorded live in Bengaluru’s Open Road studio in September 2022, Second Nature follows the group’s debut three-track EP Dual Nature, which was out in 2020. Written and composed by Krishna, the artist says it’s more of a compilation of songs she wrote between 2014 (“Possibility”) and 2021 (“Terra Chuva.”) She adds, “I basically chose songs that I wanted to present to my bandmates most urgently. I can’t say that there is a particular theme to it, other than that they’ve been written by me and that they convey a certain mood of loss, longing and love.” Mahajan had shared a quote from jazz pianist Shai Maestro which Krishna says sums up how the band felt about music being second nature to themselves. “We are not apart from it, but with it always,” she says.

“Song For Neto,” draws from Krishna’s experiencing meeting someone five years ago, while on tour with another project “on the other side of the world.” While there was a “mutual attraction and a lot of good things,” the bond didn’t pan out. “Song For Neto,” with all its soul-searching yet playful sonic attitude, acts as a message for the vocalist that even though things didn’t work out, she was in love. “Possessive love is not the only love that exists, and that it possible to be in love with someone without being with that someone and that that is okay,” she adds.

Taking the song out on the road, along with the rest of the album, Krishna says they’ve had a warm reception and it reinforces that there is indeed a captive audience for jazz music in India. “It’s no longer that inaccessible, people are responding to solos and jazz harmony, and that has been an extremely surprising part of playing this music. In some places we have been cheered on almost like we’re a rock act. I think if one puts the word out there that we’re playing jazz, then the lovers of jazz will turn up for us,” she says.

With the release of Second Nature imminent, Krishna says she will also re-arrange songs off Dual Nature EP with the current iteration of the band and play for gigs. The singer, along with Mahajan, Muniz and Proietti also plan to record a jazz standards album under the moniker KARD Kvartet.

Listen to “Song for Neto” below. Follow the band here.