Susha describes her first independent full-fledged music album, Love Language, as an act of self-care.

“All the songs in this album are about love and a spectrum of how it manifests through lived experiences. But for me, just deciding that I was going to take this big scary step, of taking two years to put in my time, money and focus into this journey felt like an act of love towards myself,” she smiles.

When we meet to discuss Love Language, we run through, of course, all what the Chennai-based singer has done with music, over the years. “I went through some old videos and found one of me signing the invocation at my mother’s (Carnatic singer Lakshmi Rangarajan) album launch,” she says.

Having trained in Carnatic music from a young age, Susha went on to complete a Master’s degree in Jazz Performance and Composition at the University of Toronto. Over the years, she has experimented across genres and formats, from playback singing, including the lilting ‘Agam Thaanai’ from Sillu Karupatti, to composing the music for Achcham Madam Naanam Payirppu, a film. Her collaborations have also included contemporary Indian bands Yodhakaa and Poorvaa, and, more recently, Band Cooum, a music collective focussed on folk, Carnatic, independent, and electronic music.

Across the 12 songs in Love Language, these musical influences, ranging from jazz to Tamil melodies and even folk, are hard to miss. Susha says that she was certain she did not want to box the album or assign it a specific genre.

The love that she speaks of, manifests itself around her. Her home, her pets (her dogs feature on the cover on the album with her), and even a girlfriend going through a rough time. If ‘Be Still’ has an almost stage-musical quality to it where her vocals soar, there is also the more melancholic ‘Different’, and ‘Choosing’, which is upbeat and feels like something you would hear wafting out of the speakers of a jazz club. While predominantly in English, the album has three Tamil songs as well.

Susha speaks of collaborations through her music career fondly, recalling projects with Pradeep Kumar and Sean Roldan. For Love Language as well, a host of collaborators from the past, and new artists feature on the tracks. “I feel like I am friends with every musician I have ever wanted to play with, so I was definitely spoilt for choice working on Love Language,” she laughs.

“I initially just booked out a studio for 12 days and recorded myself with my guitar. I then went back and listened to it, and decided on which collaborator to bring in,” she says. The musicians include percussionist and longtime friend and collaborator Praveen Sparsh, violinist Sayee Rakshith, Rithu Vysakh (who she describes as a ‘strings wizard’), and New York-based bassist Eduardo Belo.

The album release was marked by a live performance at Medai last week in Chennai, something she says, gave her the chance to bring some of her collaborators on stage, and also screen a music video she shot for the album. 

“It is a very exciting time now to be an artiste and put out independent music; I absolutely love Dhee’s music for instance, and am excited about MS Krsna’s new album as well,” says Susha.

We go back to the beginning of her music journey, with Carnatic music and Susha acknowledges how the extensive training which spanned over two decades has helped her explore, and find diverse music to learn and dabble in.

“Every song in Love Language felt like a triumph to myself. And while the album came together over two years, there are songs here that I had written years ago; every listen now feels like a memory box, something close, personal and special for my first full-fledged independent project,” she adds.

Love Language is out on Spotify. Follow Susha’s work on Instagram @sushasings