BENGALURU: The Bengaluru-based band Blushing Satellite approaches music as a form of therapy through cymatics. Cymatics refers to “how everything in manifestation is vibrations.”Vocalist Ramanan Chandramouli says, “We create music and perform to tune the listener’s attention inward, to slow down the thought process and bring the agitated mind to a calm and restful state. This is where all healing happens.”
He adds our human body is like an orchestra with each organ composed of a group of cells vibrating at the same frequency. “When any part of your body is not functioning properly it means that it is not in tune with the rest of the body,” says Ramanan
They believe music can tune us back to a healthy state. “One of the things we have done in the album is to tune all the instruments to 432 hz as opposed to 440 hz. The notes seem to have a more cathartic effect when the instruments are tuned to 432hz and is also in sync with the earth’s resonant frequency,” he says.
It took them a year and a half to work on their debut album titled The Union. “The concept is based on the union of Shiva and Shakthi, yin and yang, vibration with silence. The music is an offering to The Divine Mother’s unconditional love,” he says.
The band performed songs from their album and a couple of songs from their EP released in 2015 on Friday at Primal, The Bar. Ramanan says during their gigs, he likes wearing loose African Dashikis (kurta) to go for an earthly shamanic vibe while the rest of the band wears what they are comfortable with.
He adds their favourite song to perfrom is Dream - Nightmare - Union. The song is a love story between Shakthi and Shiva. “Shakthi is lost in a dream and the song is about her finding her way back to Shiva. It’s a 15 minute piece which takes you through different soundscapes and themes, he says.
The band was put together by Ramanan and singer Karthik Basker. “Our intention was to explore music without any adherence to tried and tested song formats and let the song take its own course. You will notice that our music does not follow a verse chorus bridge structure,” he says.The name of the band, he adds, refers to someone who has a crush on you and is constantly thinking about you in their lives and thoughts.
Music enables you to witness magic unfolding in life. “In our day to day life, we are always lost in our own thoughts. We don’t create or perform music. Music is the one thing that takes us beyond and gets us in a state of flow where we are just mere witnesses to magic unfolding,” he says.Ramanan says his process of music making is ‘intense creativity’. “I can’t explain it. It’s almost a trance like state where ‘I’ ceases and “Mother” takes over. Entire songs with structure and lyrics just come forth within a couple of days and I look back wondering how it happened. After this I usually take this to the rest of the band and we figure arrangements and where the rest of the instruments come in,” he explains.
The band enjoys a lot of African and American music and they are influenced by their grooves and rhythms. “Especially soul and RnB artists such as D’angelo, Erykah Badu and Chris Dave. On the other hand, we are also influenced by progressive rock and grunge bands such as Karnivool, Tool and Soundgarden. We try to find a blend,” he says.