Exclusive Stream: Pune/Shimla Post-Rock act The Reasonable Hope’s Ethereal Debut EP

Something about post-rock as a subgenre is intertwined with being in nature. From the verdant corner of the hill station city Shimla came The Reasonable Hope, which started out as a college band once guitarist Yaduveer Singh Thakur and drummer Samar Shinde met in Pune.

Thakur says about taking to the cinematic, ambient-influenced type of music, “It could be the minimal songwriting approach or even the fact that one can interpret post-rock/ instrumental rock in infinitely many ways, just like how open skies and the stars are, way beyond the horizon and boundless.”

In fact, it was the love of natural surroundings which brought the full lineup–guitarist Manish Thami and bassist Anant Shukla–closer when The Reasonable Hope took form in 2015. Thakur says, “I never found people who listened or played post-rock. I wanted to find like minded people who could connect well, understand my love for nature and the urge to express it out in this form.”

They spent the last two years getting their tones, effects and sonic direction in place, working up to record and release their two-track debut EP Reminiscences. “Amidst the Pines” and “Row and Sing” capture a sound not too far from mainstays such as Explosions In The Sky or God Is An Astronaut, but adds its own lush, emphatic patterns.

Recorded by sound engineer AJ Eates at Rhapsody Recording in Pune, where the band jams regularly, Thakur says the EP release marks the end of a short hiatus they’ve been on since earlier this year, owing to work and personal commitments. There’s a launch show in the works in Pune and more. Thakur says, “We’ve wanted to play a show here in Shimla too and I’m hoping to fix up something here (Shimla) as well (as Pune).”

Listen to Reminiscences