Indie in the air

In a chat, songwriter, singer, composer, vocal coach Rohan Solomon talks about the indie scene in the capital and his three new songs that are pertaining to the environment.

It seems like Delhi’s pollution has implacted people severely. It is not only the lungs and throat that have been adversely affected, but in the case of some people, it has affected the head too — at least in the case of indie singer and songwriter Rohan Solomon.

Rohan is a Delhi-based singer who was a part of an alt-rock band Cyanide but moved to New York and formed a band, By Chance, with his colleagues. He recently came up with songs ‘Blue sky’, and “Hard to Breathe’ and as an ode to Delhi’s pollution, he adds, “I never thought about it in the early days of mine as a songwriter. But as they say, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. When the air quality started to get worse and worse, I felt the need to vent out my frustration in some way. The best way I know how to express is to write songs.”

Apart from this, he has also worked as an assistant engineer on a track called Bubblin by Anderson Paak – which translates into a well-deserved bite of a grammy award. He agrees and adds, “I’m so thankful to have been a part of the process. Right time, the right place I guess.”

He has been in Indie music for a long time and feels that it has changed from the time he was fairly active. He explains, “I feel like there are more DJ’s and electronic music now as opposed to rock bands. I guess that’s a natural part of evolution. I have gone for a bunch of DJ/Electronic gigs since I moved back to Delhi. It is really great to see that there is so much talent in this scene.” Although, he hopes that rock bands can make a comeback and co-exist with the electronic scene, citing that there is enough room for both.

When asked about whether he finds it challenging to keep the music fresh, he responds that he does not think of it consciously. “It can be a challenge sometimes,” he reveals. “You can write a song, and make one of your friends listen to it and they might sometimes say ‘it sounds a little like this or that’. You can never help that. You just have to stay true to your message and your sound and be bold enough to release it.”

Rock music has a charm to it, Rohan emphasizes. “I think that imperfections in rock music recorded live are what is charming. Unlike music today which is so perfectly placed on the grid of recording software. There’s barely any room for imperfections. I think the imperfections are what make us human.”

His songs observe a combination of the genres of alt-rock and hard rock. He comments further, “I think they complement each other. Sometimes, my songs lean more towards rock and sometimes more towards pop. It all depends on the message and how I want the song to ‘feel’ at the end of the day.”