A band was born over mangsho-bhaat on weekends in Boston and the quartet from Bengal haven’t missed a beat since.

Guitarists and fellow IITians Ayon Basu Mallik and Debadeep Bhattacharya, percussionist Koushik Chakrabarty and lead vocalist Sharanya Sarkar Verma will perform at Science City on Thursday at the launch of their band Philomela’s debut album.

“We would meet at social gatherings on weekends. Informal jamming was an integral part of these addas. We became friends because of our common love for making music,” said Debadeep, 43, an IIT Bombay alumnus and a marketing professional.

The four would discuss music and ideas over messages in between work or at night. Soon, they decided to meet every Friday for jam sessions.

The basement in someone’s house, the backyard in another’s reverberated with their music and Philomela, named after a Greek deity invoked in artistic and musical quests, was born in 2015.

“We formed our band in 2015, mainly to create new and interesting music. We took six months to decide on the band’s name,” said Ayon, 43, a techie who passed out of IIT Kharagpur.

Philomela charmed music lovers in Boston for the first time in September 2018 after three years of composing music, churning out new ideas, penning lyrics and turning burning issues into songs.

“We still meet every Friday at 7pm. We usually return from work by 6pm drained out, but music perks us up immediately,” said Ayon who can play multiple instruments.

Eight of the band’s numbers have made it to the album, Ami Anya Desh, recorded in a Boston studio this March. One of the songs in the album is Bondhu Chhaya, about a lonely child who makes friends with his own shadow.

“Our songs are a result of teamwork. Sharanya specialises in Rabindrasangeet, I am all for Hindustani classical while Ayon and Debadeep like rock, blues and jazz, too. So we try to add our own touch to every song and what emerges is a product of true chaotic democracy,” said Koushik, 42, a passout of BE College, Shibpur.

Philomela’s songs cover the members’ collective experiences as immigrants, Calcutta and friends they left behind and social issues close to their hearts.

“One of our favourites is Durga, a ballad after the young girl from Panther Panchali whose death still affects us. We did not want her to die so young,” said Debadeep.

“This song was finalised after seven versions. We kept mixing it on Garageband (recording software) till we were happy,” recalled Sharanya, 36, a graduate from University of Massachusetts and a mother of a two-year-old and an 11-year-old.

Calcutta finds a place in songs like Bheja gaan, on lovers in the city; Fataru, a rock tribute to Nabarun Bhattacharya; and Bondhu on old friendships and new.

The band is now working on a song on same-sex parenting told from an adopted child’s perspective.

“We are thinking of writing about the changing landscape of Calcutta, too. Our image of the city had a dadur dokan that is increasingly giving way to supermarkets,” Ayon said.

The four want to inspire a new generation of musicians to create new songs instead of repackaging old numbers.