There was this huge ruckus Indian indie fans found recently on social networks about Something Relevant not being a band anymore. Shock was expressed, wishes were sent out and a lot of disappointment shone. Four hours later though, the ingenious boys had another announcement: the band was back in its shiny new avatar, as Baycity Lights. And when we say new avatar, we mean it: a totally different genre, a reshuffle in instrument duties, and an effort to move away from the whole Something Relevant brand.
The change in the band’s name was a result of a change in the musical direction that ensued while working on STR’s material a few months back. While the earlier project was an indie and jazz hybrid, Baycity Lights focuses on creating urban pop music laced with soul and R&B elements. “We’re all huge fans of hip hop and a couple of musicians in the band are jazz musicians as well, so [there’s] jazz, soul and R &B. It’s kind of like pop music with an urban sound. We sound nothing like Something Relevant; this is completely fresh.”, says band member Stuart DaCosta.
Composed of Rohan Mazumdar on vocals and guitars, Stuart DaCosta on MC, vocal, synth and sample duties, Ryan Sadri on saxophone, Aalok Padhye on keyboard, Tanmay Bhattacherjee
According to the sonic needs of the genre they are playing, STR’s original vocalist and guitarist Mazumdar joins the band after quite the hiatus, Da Costa trades in his bass, as do Bhattacharjeeand Padye, their guitar and percussions for their own new avatars. It makes one wonder how many different combinations could these guys come up with in that sense, and how many different genres of music that could convert to.
The band just released Glued, a single that, true to their view of being different from STR, is much more relaxed, much more slow and soulful than the former band. With the band’s name and the tone of the song itself, it is not difficult to imagine the effect the sea faces around the city have inspired on the band members. A completer relaxer, it’s the kinda music that inspires an instant spring in your step, yet keeps you happily grounded. If they keep belting out smooth tracks like this, it would be no surprise to see them more popular in this new personification and expression.
Listen:
