The Stranded Local Q&A: Jaggery

This week the Stranded in Stereo Local Q&A focuses on a newly-local band, Jaggery, originally founded in Brooklyn and recently transplanted to Boston. Mali Sastri, vocalist and keyboardist (and native of Lexington), explains “we’ve always felt a special appreciation and support for what we do here, and it’s exciting and gratifying to be able to call Boston home now.”

Jaggery's genre-defying sound is as likely to bring to mind the Cocteau Twins as Diamanda Galas. Mali's ability to bridge the delicate with the fierce is both a signature of her voice and of Jaggery's repertoire - from haunting lullabies to furious, mixed-meter rants; tightly-woven, classically-tinged compositions in odd time signatures to catharsis-inducing, barn-burning mini-epics (often within the same song). She is flanked by a roating line-up of musicians and instrumentation, creating an ethereal, exotic "musical mobile".



Mali recently took a few minutes to answer the same five questions Stranded In Stereo always asks:

Hailing from Boston makes us better than all those non-Boston bands because
as a band, we're really too new to say we hail from Boston ~ we've been Boston-based for only a month. but i personally did grow up in lexington, ma, so i've always hailed from this area, & just come home. & i've got to say ~ & this was a major factor in my coming back ~ that there's something going on here. something creative & spectacular. something in the water. i had to come back to the source.

Name at least three bands that are still around and touring that you’d love to be on a bill with, and think it fits well
i would just wet my britches if we got to open for any of the following: diamanda galas, faun fables, rasputina, oh there are tons of others ... would love to tour with the dresden dolls/amanda palmer, lisa germano, sigur ros, & would love to play live w/ the dance company, Momix, or w/ a circus.

Your favorite Boston venue to perform in is
lizard lounge & middle east.

Are there any genres that influence your music conceptually, rather than sonically? (In that you can’t hear from simply listening to the music, but from getting into the structure or mathematics of the song-writing, etc.)
interesting question. the DIY aspect of the punk movement has definitely influenced me conceptually, though jaggery is hardly a punk band. i myself am not a jazz fan, but the importance of and reliance on improvisation in jazz, as well as many other aspects of it, have greatly influenced my bandmates, & therefore our sound. we're big fans of the odd time signature & mixed meter, & so have structural similarities w/ prog & math rock, but our sound tends to be way more ethereal.

Your favorite local bar to hit up when not doing the whole band deal is
i'm really too new to boston to answer this w/ any authority ~ i've only been to about 3 bars. been mainly drinking wine cozy at home. i'll have to get back to you on that one.


[Myspace] http://www.myspace.com/jaggery

Download: o scorpio [mp3]

Catch them live: Tomorrow (April 3rd) at Great Scott, 9pm / $9, with Cober, Audrey Ryan, and Copal.