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Electro-anime therapy: Tarana Marwah blends art and audio to heal
Komorebi’s new album, The Fall, is electronica, graphic novel, sci-fi romp, collab heaven and coping mechanism all at once
When you binge-watch dramas, it probably makes Tarana Marwah very happy. The 29-year-old composer has contributed to the soundtracks of Made in Heaven (2019, 2023), Dahaad (2023), Modern Love (2022) and Bombay Begums (2021).
If you’re into electronic music, she’s happier still. Under her stage name, Komorebi, the singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist has been releasing singles since her debut album, Soliloquy, in 2017. Earlier this year, she released a music video with American developer Epic Games’ graphics game engines Unreal Engine. And she recently did a listening session with London radio presenter Bobby Friction as part of the BBC Asian Network.
But if you’re also an anime fan, you’ve hit Marwah’s trifecta. Accompanying the seven tracks on her new album, The Fall, is a 30-page graphic novel featuring Kiane, a rogue alien who crashlands on Earth, complete with a cute, loyal alien sidekick. Marwah has collaborated with 50 artists on The Fall. Among them are Blackstrat Blues, Dhruv Visvanath, Sahil Vasudeva and Easy Wanderlings. The comic has been created by upcoming electronica artist Sijya and illustrator Neelav Ghosh. It is available online at The Comic Book Store.
The album touches on themes such as self-destructive patterns, and a fall that is brought on at the height of achievement. “Reconnecting with my inner child as an adult is at the core,” Marwah says. “I wanted to give the music some context and tell a story through Kiane. Escaping into art and culture helped me survive my formative years. I sometimes see her as some version of me.”
Worlds apart
Marwah grew up in Vancouver, Canada, singing Kishore Kumar songs and playing Fur Elise on the piano in a troubled home. She moved to India in 2000. At Delhi University’s Lady Shri Ram College, she accompanied choirs and soloists on the keyboard. She sang a cappella, she studied jazz theory. This was the era when indie electropop music burst on the scene. Shaa’ir and Func were the band of the moment. Madboy/Mink were just getting started. Marwah found her groove.
With music and art, she’d also found a way to escape and express the anguish she couldn’t confront. “Anime is a gorgeous medium, so fantastical and larger than life,” she says. It’s what inspired her stage name. Komorebi is the Japanese word for sunlight filtering through the trees.
On the album, she’s let bits of herself filter through. “There’s regular Tarana and then there’s this other avatar, Kiane, a loud, colourful, snotty-nosed child, screaming at me to let her out. I’ve taken the time to express different versions of her musically and visually.” In the comic book, this is represented by Kiane falling into a trap, and battling her way out by overcoming her inner conflict.
Sight and sound
Every song on the album relates to a chapter in the comic . Listen the music as you turn the pages. Tangled and Familiar, and I Grew Up feature Blackstratblues. Watch Out, featuring Visvanath and Easy Wanderlings, is a melodic treat. It’s not hard to envison Marwah singing and rising above her pain. The comic and the songs lean on confessional, introspective verses about relationships that have shaped her.
Art and music collabs have been common in the West. The Beatles got MAD Magazine’s Bill Morrison to adapt Yellow Submarine into a graphic novel for its 50th anniversary. In 2011, Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls released two hard-cover comics titled Evelyn Evelyn to accompany her collaborative album with Jason Webley.
It’s ahead of its time for India. But not in the West. “The UK and the US have been my biggest markets so far,” Marwah says. “People are fascinated by Indians and the music they create. And Indian crowds take musicians more seriously when they’ve established themselves abroad.” Local listenership is picking up. Komorebi played at Magnetic Fields in 2017 and headlined at the 2023 edition of the Ziro Festival. “I have hope for where things are headed, indie and genre wise. But it might take time,” she says. “Hopefully, I won’t be too old by then.”
