That Boy Roby is not your usual band. The experimental rock trio based in Chandigarh made waves in the circuit due to the unique sounding debut album ‘Four Pair Of Jeans’ released in 2018. Besides the music, the band has also come to be known for their distinctive and unforgettable live performances. Treading further on the same path, the band has released a sublime music video for their song ‘Backdrop’. It has been directed by Himanshu Khagta, one of the top travel and editorial photographers in India. He has captured some of the remotest regions in the Himalayas and has been published in numerous publications including the The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveller, BBC Travel, Lonely Planet, National Geographic Traveller. The video has also been released as a short film named ‘Pitti’ and screened at multiple film festivals like LA International Film Festival etc while garnering a rating of 8/10 on IMDB.
‘Backdrop’ was shot in Spiti, 2015 during the months when it’s popularly known as ‘White Spiti’. This Trans Himalayan region lies adjacent to the old Hindustan Tibet trade routes. No electricity, sub-zero temperature, piles of snow make the winters in Spiti as beautiful and harsh as one’s first love. Only a few dare to call it home. It is their destiny. The land of Lama’s and Monasteries. This ancient Tibetan culture is preserved and protected by high mountain ranges from all sides. Hours and hours of footage was shot over a period of three months in the winter of 2015, the time when the region is inaccessible and disconnected to the rest of the world solely due to the harsh weather conditions. The shots which are seen in the video are fruit of unfailing patience. The intent of the director was to capture a day when the wind and snow are in a symphony with the landscape. Enough snow to disrupt normal life, but just enough not to disrupt all life. The aura created by the presence of the tribal inhabitants is essential to the mystique feel of the movie.
Although the band did not have any specific idea for the video, the only idea was since the song itself is a very immersive song they wanted the video to encapsulate similar emotions. On how did the video come about, the band says “The director (Himanshu Khagta) has been a close friend and has collaborated on all the videos released by That Boy Roby. Khagta, who stays in Himachal Pradesh shares a mutual penchant with the band towards the Himalayas that’s why most of our videos from the debut album have footage shot up North”. We also got in touch with Himanshu and he says “I personally feel that with the song and the video, we offer a very personal perspective to the listener and the viewer. The song and the video showcase emotions which every individual can perceive and translate as per their own feelings. As a videographer/film maker my main focus was to create an immersive visual experience overlapping with the emotion of the song as perceived by me and we feel the final product came out in perfect symphony.”
The band is currently recording and writing their second album, which should be out by the end of this year.
