Tinctures is an eclectic duo from Bangalore and Berlin that explores the nature of consonance and dissonance on piano and guitar.

Together, Nishad Pandey (guitar) and Aman Mahajan (piano) constitute a compositional and improvisational laboratory, blending tinctures of European and Indian classical music, jazz, and aesthetic, literary and mathematical concepts to create lush and intricate sound-worlds.

The duo maintains a schedule of regular performances and workshops in India and Berlin. Tinctures released their debut album Heads and Tales in 2021. Their second album moments, remote was released in 2023, created virtually during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, supported by Goethe-Institut Germany’s Virtual Partner Residency.

Origins

Nishad Pandey and Aman Mahajan met in Bangalore in 2013, playing together in various musical outfits before conceiving of Tinctures in late 2016, right before Nishad moved to Berlin. The duo sat together and came up with their first set of co-composed pieces, exploring concept-based writing to create music rich in metaphor, imagination, chance, and gameplay, with a back-and-forth between form and abstraction. They share the seeds of their creative processes in the musical workshops they conduct.

HEADS AND TALES

Since then, Tinctures has maintained a schedule of regular performances and workshops in India and Berlin. In 2019, they recorded their first studio album Heads and Tales at Krimson Avenue Studios, Chennai, later signing with independent cross-genre Indian label Subcontinental Records, releasing the album to critical acclaim. Rolling Stone India called it “an important new record in Indian jazz lore”.

They released World 1–1, the first single from this album on 1-1-21, in collaboration with Friday Night Originals, Calcutta, with a music video reflecting a world in lockdown.

Sound-Worlds and MUSICAL GAMES

The music of Tinctures is characterised by a compositional approach based heavily on improvisation, often using musical games as creative seeds to create rich and detailed worlds of sound. Spontaneous interplay and narrative are given prominence, often inspired by concepts drawn from beyond the realms of music. Photographs, film, poetry, painting, and ambient sound recordings regularly provide a thematic canvas for improvisations.

MOMENTS, REMOTE

In 2020, the duo was selected for a Goethe-Institut funded residency to create their second album moments, remote, creatively engaging with the challenges faced by musicians attempting to play together online, due to the temporal latency inherent in even the fastest internet connections.

A shared perception of time is fundamental to playing music. Under normal circumstances, both musicians experience time in the same way, allowing them to communicate and interact creatively, expressively and with rhythmic freedom. Playing online requires musicians to try and compensate for the connection lag by intentionally playing out of sync, so that the end result sounds in sync. In doing so, the music and the experience of performing can feel completely unnatural.

How can we as musicians interact with technology, transforming it from being a static (and often limiting) medium, to something that offers new possibilities? It is possible for long-distance co-composition to work, but what about an interactive performance, or musical games and improvisation? How do we bring our physicality and emotions to a performance that is so detached and remote? Can we interact with, rather than be controlled by, latency?

Since its inception, our project has existed across continents, but we have only created music so far when we were in the same room. The current situation has inspired us to explore new strategies, and redefine the way we, as Tinctures, must think about collaboration, composition and improvisation.

The album is slated for release in early 2023.

PRESS

...an important new record in Indian jazz lore...

Rolling Stone | 01.09.2021

Both Mahajan and Pandey were in complete control of their instruments, each bringing to the stage a vast vocabulary...they are both first and foremost masters of modern music. The kind of music that is genre-free and looks to see how easily two people can collaborate with each other, without the usual boundaries of chord structure or defined rhythm.

Executive Traveller | 02.02.2019

[A] camaraderie that found its way into their process of composition...full of musical tropes and games, with equal parts structure and improvisation.

Deccan Chronicle | 26.01.2019

Both the musicians conversed in a true dialogue. Both listened to the other. Both the musicians put in their own point of view, simply, clearly and seamlessly.

Serenade Magazine | 07.03.2018

Exploring sounds as diverse as their backgrounds from Bengaluru to Berlin, Tinctures brings the guitar and piano together for some harmonic manipulations.

The Hindu | 06.03.2018

...Ben Allison once said, “Jazz is an evolutionary art form. It’s always changing. I think it has to change otherwise it dies.” The same can be said about the sound of Tinctures.

The Times of India | 04.03.2018

PERFORMANCES

04.02.2023 Max Mueller Bhavan, Chennai
29.01.2023 Goa Jazz Academy, Goa
26.01.2023 Dorian House, Auroville
22.01.2023 Musée Musical, Chennai
21.01.2023 Island City Studios, Bombay
19.01.2023 Gray Spark Audio, Pune
15.01.2023 The Blue Room, Bangalore
14.01.2023 natakvalas, Bangalore
15.02.2020 Hauskonzert, Lichtenberg, Berlin
10.02.2020 Indischen Botschaft, Tiergarten, Berlin
08.02.2020 Hauskonzert, Mitte, Berlin
25.01.2020 The Blue Room, Bangalore
19.01.2020 Studio Innisfree, Hyderabad
14.08.2019 Courtyard Koota, Bangalore
27.01.2019 Timri, Indiranagar, Bangalore
26.01.2019 The Blue Room, Bangalore
25.01.2019 Theme Music Institute, Bangalore
24.01.2019 Madras Jazz Hub, Chennai
20.01.2019 house concert, Cooke Town, Bangalore
18.01.2019 Monk’s Studio, HSR Layout, Bangalore
17.01.2019 Musee Musical, Hyderabad
22.04.2018 Kulturraum Mainzer7, Berlin
21.04.2018 Art City People, Berlin
20.04.2018 The Bear, Berlin
19.04.2018 DAMSO Galerie & Teehaus, Berlin
17.04.2018 Geyger Art Gallery, Berlin
15.03.2018 Di Ghent Café, Gurgaon
14.03.2018 Theme Piano World, New Delhi
11.03.2018 Depot48, New Delhi
10.03.2018 &Switch Session, Siri Fort, New Delhi
09.03.2018 Sienna Café, Calcutta
08.03.2018 Alliance Française du Bengale, Calcutta
06.03.2018 Goethe-Institut, Bangalore
04.03.2018 Tabula Rasa, Hyderabad
03.03.2018 Alliance Française, Hyderabad
02.03.2018 house concert, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad
29.01.2017 Plantation House, Bangalore
28.01.2017 The Blue Room, Bangalore