Tankbund Release Debut Album

Delhi electronica group Tankbund

When you sit down to hear Delhi electronica/ambient band Tankbund’s debut full-length album, Tankbund [which released digitally last week], it’s a trip just like vocalist-keyboardist Ritwik De describes it to be ”“ starting off with light and lush sounds, before moving into a darker, noisier spectrum by the time the sixth song, “Limbo,” kicks in. Their penultimate number called “The Dissembler,” which leans on industrial and trip hop, was the band’s first-ever video which was shot as part of the Tehelka Music Project last year. Says De, “We just wanted to make a band with no guitars and explore a new sound.”

Formed in 2011 while its members where studying at Sri Venkateswara College in Delhi, Tankbund comprises three keyboardists and vocalists ”“ De [from alt/psychedelic rock band MindFlew and indie rock band Caesars of the Green], Subhadra Kamath [from alternative rock band Fire Exit], bassist Rohit Bhattacharya [from prog metal band Guillotine], drummer Ujjwal Kumar [from Caesars of the Green] and vocalist/keyboardist Radha Priya. They made made their stage debut in April this year. “That’s when we got sure of how to pull it off live. It’s a big setup, samples and five or six keyboards, so we’re still getting used to it,” says De, who plans to launch Tankbund on July 11th at Imperfecto in Hauz Khas Village, playing songs off their 15-track album.

Following the trip from light to noisier sounds on Tankbund, the album closes with a reprise of their third track, “Reverie,” a bonus track called “Open,” and a ”˜hidden track’ which features more random play with a ukulele, samplers and keyboards in the style of British electronica duo, Zero 7. “We’d been writing this for a while, and every album should have that sense of collectiveness, instead of just being a compilation of songs,” says De. 

Tankbund was released on the band’s Bandcamp page for limited download, which De says ran out within two days. “We didn’t anticipate downloads to go that fast. We’ll be putting up the album in full on YouTube soon, and if people want to do the piracy thing, it’s cool,” says De, who adds the album will be released on CD “eventually,” after the songs go through a second round of mastering.

Listen to Tankbund’s self-titled album here. Tankbund plays at Imperfecto, Delhi on July 11th, 2013. For more details, follow Tankbund on their Facebook page.

Watch Tankbund perform “The Dissembler”