Exclusive Premiere: Cinema of Excess Ruminate on ‘Beyond What’s Here’

When Bengaluru indie/acoustic trio Cinema of Excess‘s heartfelt, emotive debut EP Bring Back the Sound released in early 2018, it established their style as bittersweet, happy-sad music. Vocalist and guitarist Anirudh Ravi, however, says it’s never an agenda.

With the release of their latest song “Beyond What’s Here,” the singer-songwriter says, “Yes, it does have a bittersweet feeling attached to it. But again that’s not something we did consciously. We’d like to think that the newer material has similarities in terms of the vibe, but we have some stuff in the works that leans towards sweet more than bitter.”

Released as a stand-alone song to follow up Bring Back the Sound, the VHS-quality filtered music video shows the trio — plus band manager Siddharth Nair (from metal band Tangents and math-rock/hardcore band Haiku-Like Imagination) — travel around the country. It showcases regular tour shenanigans over a gentle, somewhat pained song about love, longing and reflection. Bassist Abheet Anand says, “Taking this band on the road had been the one of the most beautiful and humbling experiences of our run so far. Beautiful because of all the amazing things, places and people we’ve got to meet experience, and humbling because of the overwhelming responses we’ve gotten from the places we tour and some of the stages and countries we’ve got to play at.”

Interestingly, the trio says “Beyond What’s Here” doesn’t have any thematic connection to their forthcoming material and was written by Ravi five years ago. Guitarist Bharath Kashyap adds, “This song will not be a part of any future release. We’re looking at six songs for our next EP.”

Ask them if Nair — who’s a growler — will ever get a chance to join the trio on stage and Kashyap proclaims, “All we’re gonna say is ‘Sid x Cinema : The Story of a Boy Who Screams at a Band.’ In theaters around you, 2021.”

Watch the video for “Beyond What’s Here” below.