Smells of teen spirit

Sasha Bowers Cohen (left) and Kabir Bhattacharya

The conference call that we have with Sasha Bowers Cohen, a musician from Spain, and Indian independent artiste Kabir Bhattacharya about their new collaborative EP lasts around 15 minutes. We discuss how they first met, what their inspirations are, and what direction they want to take for Red Summer, the band they have started together. The conversation is interesting, but it's only when Cohen answers the final question - ‘What's your age?' - that we do a double take. "I'm 17," they (Cohen's preferred pronoun) reply.

We'd already known that Bhattacharya is 18 years old, having written about his prodigious talent last year. But we had assumed while talking to the two of them that the Mumbai teenager had collaborated with an overseas musician, who's many years older. That assumption didn't have as much to do with the maturity of their answers, or even the self-assured tone of their voice. Instead, it had a lot more to do with the proficiency of the music in The Sleep, Red Summer's debut EP, which has shades of the groove metal and grunge sounds that emerged in the 1990s. If this is what the duo has achieved while still in their teens, the world is their oyster.

But the best part about them is that they aren't self-conscious at all. They speak about their craft in such a matter-of-fact manner that their age is reduced to just a number. "I love listening to heavy music, but personally, I want to be able to play a lot of different sounds at a concert," Cohen says, while Bhattacharya adds, "This album is a lot closer to home," referring to groove metal being his comfort zone although Mood Machine, his debut solo album, had a multitude of genres embedded within six songs. These are answers that could have well come from people who are twice or even thrice their age. No wonder we were shocked - which is the only word to describe our reaction - when Cohen told us how old they actually were.

The point is, we will definitely keep a keen eye on Red Summer's progress. Both musicians are tight-lipped about the sort of sonic landscape they intend to paint with their future albums. They do reveal that they will collaborate with other musicians to add live drums to the mix, though Cohen and Bhattacharya will remain the core of the band. That's something they are certain about, which is just as well, because the two of them make for great musical company. Three might just end up being a crowd.

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