Exclusive Stream: Traces Present Seething Prog on ‘Origin’

Traces – (from left) Hitesh Mittal, Dileep Mallick, Vivian Christopher Rajan and Shreyas Aakarshan. Photo: Janardhan Rao

Is one allowed to say that a band is too self-indulgent when they craft a 12-minute song? When we ask Bengaluru prog rock/metal band Traces how they went about working on their lengthy new track “Origin” ”“ intended to release as a single ”“ guitarist Hitesh Mittal says he keeps a thematic flow in mind. Drummer Vivian Christopher Rajan adds, “Sometimes, we feel like we haven’t explored one thematic feel enough, so we tend to do that a little bit more.”

Traces, who came together four years ago and added Rajan and bassist Shreyas Aakarshan along the way, have previously had drummer Abhinav Yogesh [from thrash/death metallers Inner Sanctum] on their lineup. Rajan, however, was featured on their 2014 debut EP Fractals. While their first release mark established a clear and heavy influence of American prog rock band Tool, Aakarshan says there’s more to them. “While to some extent these comparisons are flattering, we do strive to carve out a niche of our own; our own identity.”

On “Origin,” there’s still that soft melancholic touch from the lighter moments off Undertow-era Tool, Mittal’s phaser-powered guitar lines leading us on to crescendo refrains of vocalist Dileep Mallick warning, “Until the will awakens and all sentience is shaken/Lurid sights await – the lucid light of eternal days.” Mallick says about the band’s major themes, “We mainly look at philosophy, metaphysics, existentialism and the mind.”

While Mittal says he began working on the song in 2014, it was only completed earlier this year, in February. “Origin,” along with the three tracks off Fractals, will be part of their upcoming six-track full-length album, due in mid-2017. Mallick says it’s a concept album about “our idea and belief of existence on the whole,” adding, “And its evolution from a singularity – the will. The influence stems from everyday life and its mundaneness which never really allows these deeper concepts to surface. So we try and explore them through our music.”

Listen to “Origin” below. Click here [right-click, save link as…] to download the track.

Traces and Diarchy perform at Indigo Live Music Bar, Bengaluru on July 17th. Event details here.