Bengaluru Post-Rock Comes To Mumbai

Bengaluru post-rock/space rock band Space Behind The Yellow Room.

From a city that gave us alt/post-rock band Lounge Piranha, there’s been a revival of the post-rock genre in Bengaluru over the last two years with both studio projects and live acts. Space Behind the Yellow Room and Until We Last have been gaining a steady following in Bengaluru for their spaced-out, cinematic instrument-led brand of rock, which will now debut in Mumbai at the fortnightly BOMB Thursdays on September 12th.

Instrumental post-rock band Until We Last’s guitarist Ketan Bahirat, who grew up watching the likes of Thermal and A Quarter and Lounge Piranha and started the band as a solo studio project in 2011, says India hadn’t seen “traditional post-rock” live. He cites bands like Texan post rock band Explosions In The Sky and Irish post rockers God Is An Astronaut, who take audiences on an whirlwind of emotions, with no words or vocals, turning to delay-heavy guitars and slow jams instead. Why it’s grown popular in Bengaluru, Bahirat says, is because the audience in his city is open to all kinds of music.

Post-rockers Space Behind The Yellow Room, on the other hand, started experimenting with post-rock last year and are now incorporating vocals and psychedelic sounds. Drummer and vocalist Shoumik Biswas, who also plays in Kolkata pop rock band The Monkey In Me, says, “We got into [Israeli electronica duo] Infected Mushroom of late. We didn’t really care about the genre. We like how post-rock flows.”

Both bands say Bengaluru is open to checking out experimental, new styles of music and hope to introduce Mumbai to the genre at their gig. Says Biswas, “We’re quite thrilled [to play in Mumbai]. When people listen to us, half of them are still asking ”˜Where the fuck is the vocalist?’ [Biswas and guitarist Nihar Apte provide vocals between long instrumental sections on songs like “God is a Little Boy.”] Bahirat wants to “get more listeners” for post-rock. “We want to promote alternative genres in India,” Bahirat adds.

With both bands playing a 30-minute set each, Space Behind the Yellow Room will perform more space rock-oriented songs such as “Miscommunication” and “A Secret Not Meant To Keep,” both of which will make it to their upcoming album full of singles that will be ordered from oldest to newest, “in order of our progress,” according to Biswas. “We’re not playing too much post-rock because we have Until We Last for that,” the Space Behind The Yellow Room drummer adds.

Bahirat says Until We Last will debut a couple of new songs in Mumbai as part of their all-originals set. The band will also give away bootleg CDs and posters containing home recordings of songs like “To Space and Back” and “Rain.” Bahirat adds, “We have a lot of material, so we’re working on a concept album about the universe, with about 11 or 12 songs. Because the music is without words, it’s definitely more of an experience [listening to it]. Our target is the end of the year or early next year.”

Space Behind The Yellow Room and Until We Last perform with the Kanchan Daniel Band and Filter Coffee perform on September 12th, 9 pm onwards at BOMB Thursdays at Kino 108, Mumbai. Entry: Rs 200. Event details here.

Stream Space Behind The Yellow Room’s “God is a Little Boy”

Listen to Until We Last’s bootleg version of “Rain”