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Mumbai-based experimental progressive rock band Symphony Novel recently released the official crowd-funded music video for their latest single, 'Ethereal Ash'. We spoke to guitarist Rachit Sachdeva about the song, the video, and the collaborations.

Mumbai-based progressive experimental rock band Symphon Novel recently released the official crowd-funded music video for their latest single, ‘Ethereal Ash’, subsequent to the band’s debut album, Aria, released earlier this year. “We are very thankful to Wishberry for accepting our project for crowd funding,” said rhythm guitarist Rachit Sachdeva, “As this was a very huge project financially, and the kind of response we got was overwhelming. It definitely takes a lot of effort to convince the people that they are contributing for a very promising project, and we are glad that all our contributors are extremely happy with ‘Ethereal Ash’.”

‘Ethereal Ash’ is a pleasant blend of progressive rock fused soulfully with classical undertones, both western and Hindustani. “It is a song with many layers that stylistically blend into one another,” Rachit told us. “The lyrics are based on the environment and how its constantly getting into a worse shape. The song is derived from our interpretation of the world being divine – ethereal – and the way humanity is slowly burning it down to ashes.”

The track features collaborations with drummer Gino Banks, bassist Sheldon D’Silva – who were also part of Symphony Novel’s debut album – and cellist Jake Charkey. “We recorded at Gino's Studio, Double Shift Productions,” Rachit told us, “With Kuber Sharma and Abhishek as our recording engineers. It was a brilliant experience working with such working with such amazing musicians. Once I was ready with the entire composition with clean guitars, heavy rhythms, and lyrics, Vivek had composed an amazing polyrhythmic rhythm section with a very melodic guitar solo showcasing various influences like jazz, metal, and carnatic styles. Suvarna Tiwari composed a beautiful and subtle Indian classical section which would lead into Gauri 's powerful western vocals. Later in the second half, we decided to put a jugalbandi between Suvarna and Jake Charkey [cello]. The experience was great and it helped us push our creativity to an extent that now we definitely feel that this song is a big step up for Symphony Novel.” ‘Eathereal Ash’ was mixed/mastered by Forrester Savell – one of the most sought-after producers who has worked with bands like Karnivool, Animals As Leaders, Dead Letter Circus, Skyharbor, and more – with the music video directed by Parth Daga, Preet Rajput, and Kartikeya Garg, shot at Karan Asnani 's Studio in Mumbai.



Watch the video for 'Ethereal Ash' by Symphony Novel below: