Singles Roundup #41: Diversify Your Playlist With These Latest Tracks

Mumbai-based singer-songwriter and visual artist Rachel Singh collaborated with Rakesh Chuarasia for her latest single Go Grow. This song is a compassionate ballad that expresses the need for drawing a boundary for personal growth. It is a reminder that solitude is meant to be pleasant and empowering. Singh’s alluring vocals are enough to captivate you along with Churasia’s mellifluous flute composition. Paired together, in this song, it makes you retrospect and it is best to listen to it in solitude.

A trio consisting of Kartik Pillai, Karan Singh and Dhruv Bola is what makes the musical act–Begum. They also make up 3/5^th of the renowned band–Peter Cat Recording co. Their latest single Better Person is the lead single from their forthcoming album Are you ok? releasing in March 2022. The band can see certain traces of PCRC, but yet it stands out by being a tad bit more experimental. Their sound is somewhere between a subconscious revelation of internalised pop music tropes and a result to foment comfort by presenting the uncomfortable. The video is an absurdist foray into the process of changing a person to be more perfect and creating a version that suits you the best.

Guitarist and producer Rajkanwar Sodhi who goes by the moniker Raj released his latest single Kurt. This track was released with the British label Chill Select. This electronic song is a tribute to Sodhi’s biggest inspiration–Kurt Cobain and it also includes a sampled Nirvana interview from 1989. The track consists of raw elements of old school hip-hop and lo-fi neo-soul.

Mumbai-based singer-songwriter, film composer and music producer Keshuv Huria released his latest single Palkein. This Hindi track is a cross-border collaboration where the lyrics and bass are done by a few of Huria’s friends in Pakistan. This feel-good soothing song comes with a message that music can tie people together across borders and art is beyond all borders.

Delhi-based progressive-rock band Project Oversight released their debut single Nobody Knows. The band was formed by four metalheads who wanted to integrate songwriting with melodic structures and that’s exactly what they have done! With a seamless blend of rock and progressive elements, with clean harmonic riffs, the band has definitely stuck to what they intended to do.

Bright Blues Skies is the latest single by Poetry People, sung and composed by Sharad Joshi. The song is about the simple joys that nature is capable of bringing to mankind. All we need to do is stop and look around. We’re bound to be wowed. With its simple, minimal composition jazz-y composition, this song can be equivalent to the feeling of ‘food for the soul’ in the essence of ‘music for the soul.’ Joshi’s soothing vocals makes you sit back, and get lost in a sense of nostalgia.

Engineer-turned musician Jibin Abraham collaborated with hip-hop artist I Eat Beats for their single Hurdles. This bi-lingual rap song is about how we all are trapped in some way or the other in normal life. For I Eat Beats, this song came as a step towards a way out of his 9 to 5 mundane life.

Ludhiana-based singer-songwriter Aaftaab Grewal released his third single Saroor, produced by Angad Bahra. This Punjabi song is a smooth blend of blues, RnB, hip-hop and the signature Punjabi groove. Known for his storytelling style of writing, Grewal wrote this song, that was meant to be a text to his crush but he made it into a song the minute it started to rhyme.

Singer-songwriter Gaurav Sharma released his sophomore single Khoya Sa, produced by Somanshu Agarwal. What started as a 60 seconds loop on Instagram, later turned out to be this lo-fi, acoustic guitar, synth dominated track with a groovy bass. This song also marks Sharma’s debut as a lyricist. The song stems from a personal situation for Sharma when he moved to a new city and tried to start a new life. It talks about the feeling of being clueless about what the future holds and taking one day at a time.

Ankleshwar/Pune-based poet turned singer-songwriter Saurabh Tripathi collaborated with Rohtak/Pune-based singer-songwriter Akshit Dhall for their latest release Sheher. This indie-pop travel song is about the feeling when someone leaves their city and a sense of calling from someplace else. Dhall’s vocals, as usual, are soothing and the composition has a catchy, hummable hook.

Ahmedabad-based hip-hop artist Darshil Pandya who goes by the alias D Psycho released his latest single Mein Deewana, produced by Jerry Martin. This melodic rap has a piano lead melody. This song, according to the artist is the simplest way to express love.

Chennai-based singer-songwriter Sidharth Nair released his latest single Until You Found Me. The song talks about things in life that are bound to happen no matter what. The story and idea behind this song stem from a personal reflection for Nair. With breezy guitars, and soothing mellow vocals along with an equally calming video, this song can be a reflection for many about their life and how far they have come.

Delhi-based singer-songwriter Piya Podder released her sophomore single The World Keeps Turning. The song talks about the change and the fear that comes along with it. Podder is known for her poignant lyrics even with her debut single and this song is no different in that aspect. This time, she has also shot and edited a stop motion video to go along with the song.

Mumbai-based Hindi-Urdu band Madmast released their latest single Kaisi Ye Maaya. Released on the 5^th year anniversary of demonetisation, this song questions the leaders who sell the very own settlements that have chosen them to lead. This progressive rock song talks about issues that matter with poignant lyrics and a short monologue within the song.

Pune-based Aniket Kate who goes by the moniker Aniken released his latest single Exile, co-produced by Zion Mathew and Siddharth Basrur on vocals. This prog-rock song is groovy with a catchy hook and composition.