Los Angeles-based (though hailing from India) singer and renowned dancer Bhavana Reddy was born to a life of music and art. Her parents, Raja and Radha Reddy, are known across the world for their exploration of the south Indian dance form known as Kuchipudi. They run the Natya Tarangini Institute of Kuchipudi Dance in New Delhi and are credited with having taken the traditional aspects of Kuchipudi and injected a sense of modern composition without compromising its base form. This regiment of dance and song had a profound impact on their daughter, as she became known for her unique take on the dance as well — though in recent years, she has also veered into the musical side of things.
She is set to release her self-produced debut EP, Tangled In Emotions, on February 8th. Mixing the varying timbres and textures of eastern music with the western rhythms of her native country, Reddy looks to make inroads into blues, rock, and folk through her melodic interpretation of the 72 parent ragas (scales) of Indian Carnatic music. This amalgamation of styles and execution lends her work a neo-psychedelic feeling — a melting pot of ideas and technique.
On the EP’s lead single, “Smells Like Rain,” she blends a cathartic rock melody with a series of vocal acrobatics to create a song that evokes vaguely middle-eastern sounds while still sounding as though her feet are firmly planted within indie rock’s fertile soil. Haunting string harmonies and percussive blasts combine to form the platform from which her powerful voice leaps like a diver into the swells of layered instrumentation. There are moments when the song pulls back to reveal a skeletal frame, where only a stringed instrument and vocal harmonics interweave to form beautiful and icy rhythms. But these are short-lived as the song repeatedly gathers and expels musical crescendos that carry the listener along on a wave of tonal release.
Beats Per Minute is pleased to premiere the lead single, “Smells Like Rain,” from Bhavana Reddy’s debut EP, Tangled In Emotions.
