Antariksh Offer a Radiant Ballad on New Song ‘Raahiya’

With an international run of shows and several big stage appearances in 2019, New Delhi band Antariksh found that the pandemic-enforced lockdown and quarantine allowed them to focus on material they had been prepping for quite some time. Founder and guitarist-vocalist Varun Rajput says, “It’s been one hell of a year in ways both good and bad. I’d say, it’s been both fun as well as challenging working through this year.” 

Their latest song “Raahiya” comes on the back of three singles released this year — a synth pop-informed excursion called “Fanaah,” the arena-ready rock anthem “Jee Le Zaara” and a live version of “Aashayein” (taken from their 2013 album Khoj). Their latest bears a mark of finesse and diverse flourishes of saxophone by Abhay Sharma (from jazz-funk band The Revisit Project) and formidable bass by producer-bassist Gaurav Chintamani (from fusion act Advaita).

Created between late 2018 up until mid-2019 when it was recorded, Rajput and keyboardist Joshua Peter channeled their love for Eighties and Nineties pop/rock ballads, including artists such as Michael Learns To Rock “with a bit of a modern twist” with drummer Dan Thomas and guitarist Shrikant Biswakarma. Rajput adds, “Shrikant came up with a nice intro guitar line and even more interesting chordal ideas that we immediately latched onto.” 

A saxophone part for the track was a no-brainer when Antariksh was running through the song, which led to Rajput calling on Sharma, but it was slightly different when it came to finding a bassist. They eventually called on Chintamani (their go-to mixing engineer who also played bass on “Fanaah”), but Rajput says the search for a bassist is still on in some ways, ever since Raghav Verma left and went on to co-found food and beverage chain Chaayos. “That’s when I decided that until we find someone who fits the bill and has enough time to dedicate, we’ll track the bass for all our songs and play it along with our backing tracks,” Rajput adds. 

While Antariksh is firmly rooted in the pop-rock space, they do love borrowing from different sonic styles. There are more singles coming up, including something slightly heavier.  Rajput says, “Next up is a six-minute-long prog rock track featuring a world renowned guitar player from the west and incredible sitar player from our very own country. Exciting times ahead.” 

Watch the video for “Raahiya” below. Stream on more platforms here.