Well known Bollywood composer Ram Sampath has taken a decision
to return to his Indie roots. Hence, his latest song ‘Fragile 2020’ is a
revisiting of his younger days when he rocked out with his band
Colourblind. This song was composed by him during that stint.
On this new song, Sampath handled vocals, Crehyl Pereira played
keyboards, Lokesh Bakshi and Daniel Kenneth Rego played guitars,
Ishan played drums and Keshav Iyengar played bass.
Right from the start, arpeggiated chords on the piano stir up a soft,
fragile atmosphere which leads onto an even softer voice which talks
about how fragile the beauty of creation is.
In this manner and mood, ‘Fragile 2020’ meanders its way through
the listener’s senses, picking up straight-laced even drumming and
subtle bass playing whose heavy, muddled voice can be heard at the
end of phrases. The rhythm on the electric guitar remains
unnoticeable except for some sombre chords, until the solo comes
along.
Surprisingly, instead of taking flight on the rousing mood created by
the chorus, the guitar slips into a laidback wandering, accentuated by
tuneful ambient bending and post-rock phrasing. The rhythm drops
down into a lull rather disappointingly only to wake up and crash like
a big wave on the sea shore when the chorus is taken up again.
Nature plays a big role in the thematic setting, from the oft-repeated
phrase ‘the velvet sky’ and the ‘waves of the ocean’ to ‘the glaze of
the sun against the sky’ and ‘rain’. Human emotions and miracles
found in life are also decreed the same level of importance and
fragility.
When delved deeply, the song instils a sense of empathy for the things
that we take for granted but can indeed not remain in our lives if we
don’t care for them. The message is put across very subtly, very much
in tune with the entire mood of the song.
As for the soundscape, it has a modern approach towards soft ambient
rock with lots of post-rock sensibilities. Only as the instrumentation is
not as dense or the vocals unclear, it does not fall in the latter
category. But this only proves that ambient musical derivative is
catching on in India.
If this is anything to go by, then we can expect a whole new sonic
direction from the man who made his name by scoring for films like
Delhi Belly, Raaes, Khakee and Talaash. Though this music will be
considered indie as it is not part of the film industry, is it really indie
considering Sampath’s immense popularity and resources?
Verdict: Hovers between soft rock and post rock.
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