We spoke about what Kitanu brings to the table when they put out their wonderful self-titled EP in 2021. Their interesting approach to organically mixing Indian elements (specifically, a sarod) into Western genre explorations made for a seamless fusion that put songwriting and overall composition over technical checklists. Their new single ‘How The Tables Turn’ is a refinement of that concept that remains every bit as compelling as any other far more outwardly intricate East-meets-West sub-genre.

We should probably make it clear that this one isn’t really for the purists out there; the amount of, say, classical-ness in the song’s ‘Indian’ parts is… well, moderate at best. But that is not the point at all. What Kitanu does so exceptionally well is to show how easily and harmoniously those influences can be integrated into different styles of Western music, and they jump from one to another a few times on this tune.

The meat and potatoes of the track is rooted in rock. There are verses that live in the pop-rock realm, parts that are a bit more proto-prog rock (think expansive 70s sounds) in between, and grooves that cover everything in between. There are even some agreeable vocals to be found here, the type you’d find in your favourite classic rock 80s and 90s ballads. Of course, in the second half, the band allows themselves a bit of fun; a small call-and-response bit goes into an atmospheric section that has a much more modern prog feel to it. This is driven home even further by the half-time ‘sunrise’ that follows and brings the song home.

What’s truly wild about ‘How The Tables Turn’, when you think about it, is just how much at home the sarod is here. In fact, you might have noticed that we didn’t even touch on the sarod while talking about the song, and yet, it’s all over every little section. It’s played a lot as a lead (the motif used is pretty addictive), it does the responses in the call-and-response section, and it even sits back at times - but doesn’t stick out beyond just being another well-executed instrument in this mix. In fact, over the 7-minute runtime of this song, it’s really easy to forget that this is a sarod in the context one would normally think of it and just accept it as a cool instrument in a cool song. This is where Kitanu are at their best, and this song is a good listen to boot.