Exclusive Premiere: Bengaluru’s Coma Rossi Bring Slick, Soaring Prog on ‘Turn Back Time’

In late 2015, Bengaluru prog/ambient rock band Coma Rossi had a somewhat unlikely applicant ask about a keyboardist vacancy posted on social media. Juby Thomas, a seasoned musician who was part of the early lineup of Kerala rockers Avial, was looking to get back into songwriting after a decade away working.

Thomas says he was interested in the then-newly formed Coma Rossi because their mix of prog and post-rock elements set them apart. “Plus the fact I realized that there was great opportunity to contribute”¦ to enhance the ”˜psychedelia’. And I started to see the sounds from an visual perspective,” the keyboardist says. Three years on, Coma Rossi have released “Turn Back Time,” a composition brought forward by Thomas, who was inspired by sci-fi novella The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.

Comprising Thomas, guitarist Gaurav Govilkar, vocalist Tom Borah, bassist Udayan Kashalikar and drummer Anupam Panda, Coma Rossi have spent about three years working on their eight-track debut, which clocks in at 67 minutes. The band agrees that the tracks weren’t intentionally packed in and made lengthy, but guided by the aim to build emotions. Govilkar adds, “We never restricted ourselves while writing songs. For instance, the longest song on the record is ‘Dream,’ which runs for about 13 minutes and narrates a very surreal and emotive journey of the mind, gathered lyrically from maybe a few half remembered dreams I had.”

With the album set to release in December, “Turn Back Time” comes across as a good introduction for Coma Rossi’s sound ”“ cinematic in its buildup, led by ephemeral instrumentation over Borah’s classic rock-style vocals, until a prog riff arrives as the main hook. Borah leads the band’s soaring final movement, which crashes back into the hook, including a plea, a warning and an acceptance of fate.

Watch the lyric video for “Turn Back Time” below.