Coming from the streets of Chennai, the Indian Indie group Chennai Street Band are an alternative pop band with forays into indie rock, country, funk and alternative rock. The band came into being in 2017 when they launched their debut single “Udd Chal” which featured Jonita Gandhi the leading Bollywood playback sensation as an ode to women with dreams. Over the next couple of years, the band worked on their debut full length album titled “Payanangal” which garnered both critical and public acclaim.
The band was founded in 2015 by Srihari Jagannathan (Frontman/ Music Producer) and Goutham Healer (Drummer). The band consists of guitarists Akshay Yesodharan, Renin Raphael, bassist Adithya Gopi, Keyboard player Sebastian Satish who met each other in the streets of Chennai like the name of the band suggests. The band has started working on their second full length bi-lingual album “UPLIFT” where they take an experimental route by fusing in different genres yet keeping their brand of pop music and sing along choruses that the crowds love. The band has released its first single from that album “Safarnama” and that’s the song we are reviewing here.
In musical parlance, the term “artist” is regularly used as a synonym for “musician”. On many occasions, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Many musicians come up with poorly composed and awkwardly presented efforts that would be extremely difficult to be considered as actual art. “Safarnama” is a shining exception to this fact, combining a powerful pop aesthetic with an Indian folk identity to create a wonderfully fresh take on fusion-pop music. This song is definitely a result of artists at work.
“Safarnama” isn’t always perfect, but its few shortcomings do little to detract from its overall brilliance. The open-minded exploration of pop, rock, and folk music within this track is just fantastic. The production is remarkably subtle, and the song will get most listeners hooked on to it from the first listen, with their interest growing with some replay button mashing.
“Safarnama” is a tale of a person with dreams who embarks on a journey to find himself. It’s a fantastic track that doesn’t compromise on Chennai Street Band’s distinctive style, a fact that reveals the wide range of ideas and musical elements present on the band’s catalogue so far. Go on and add this feather to their cap.
Verdict: Truly artistic.
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