A day in Bengaluru set to music

Rainburn present life in Bengaluru set to music

For Bengaluru’s progressive rock band Rainburn, the concept always comes first and the music follows. Being traditionalist in the age of single releases to boost streaming numbers, the band’s new album Vignettes is out now in full via Bandcamp and hit streaming platforms on December 1.

Founder Vats Iyengar, who also plays the guitar and bass as well as sang, composed and wrote the songs, says Rainburn albums always start with the theme first and then is broken down into different chapters. Vignettes, like its name suggests, became more a sonic equivalent of a collection of short stories rather than a novel.

“The writing always comes from an autobiographical point of view in some sense, so it’s whichever topics resonate strongest with me or seem sufficiently rich to mine as a songwriter,” Iyengar says.

The album journeys through a day in the life of anyone living in an urban Indian city. “Big cities all around the world seem to be one big, faceless blob,” Iyengar adds. Considering the band is based here, it is no surprise to hear Rainburn confirm that all the songs draw from a Bangalorean experience. He clarifies, “While this album is largely derived from life in Bengaluru, it’s got a universal slant.”

The prog rock stories on Vignettes range from internet culture-related issues, such as ‘Outrage-Seeking Generation Z Brain’ and ‘Love Probably’, to the corporate rat race (‘Listen Through the Noise’), male gender stereotyping (‘Identity’), sexual assault (‘Party People’) and police corruption (‘Bad Cop/Bad Cop’). By the titles alone, one can guess that Rainburn, comprising Iyengar, drummer Neilroy Miranda and guitarist-composer Saakallya Biswas, keep their sense of irony sharp and dig into everyday issues without hesitation.

Where their previous album, Insignify from 2018 was more personal and inward looking, thus making it an intense experience to write for Iyengar, Vignettes was more outward looking. The vocalist-guitarist admits, however, ‘Party People’ was particularly difficult to write in terms of lyrics.

“Having never experienced sexual assault myself, it seemed a bit exploitative to pretend to be the victim in the story, so my main dilemma was who the narrator should be, an outraged observer, the assaulter or someone else. In the end I chose a cross between a sympathetic listener and a skeptic (of the “Why didn’t she raise a hue and cry right away?” persuasion), which is how I think a lot of third parties tend to be in this situation.” Iyengar adds, “I’m not proud to admit I’ve been that person myself.”