Exclusive Stream: The Uncertainty Principle’s Electrifying Return on ‘Levitate. Sanctify. Disappear.’

New Delhi prog rock band The Uncertainty Principle. Photo: Ishwar Prasad

The last three years for New Delhi progressive rock band The Uncertainty Principle have been on and off, and while many may have written them off, the band’s bassist Siddharth Rajan says they were steadily working on their full-length debut Discord.

With the addition of Shashank Chandak on vocals in 2013, the band have been changing their material around. Rajan adds, “As a result, the recording process was on hold for a little while. We added some samples and keyboards to some of the songs, which added a new dimension. We all also got a little caught up with our jobs, which further prolonged the process. Our aim was always to ensure that this album came out as we wanted it to, and to build on that in the future.”

While early releases such as 2012’s “The Question” and 2013’s “The Orb” showcased their approach to prog with alternative and hard rock influences. Turns out it’s a signature they’ve still held on to. Their first single off Discord, “Levitate. Sanctify. Disappear,” begins with an interesting mix of crunching riffs from axemen Abhishek Rajan and Nishant Kurup and includes all-cylinders-firing drum work of Keith Peter. Bassist Siddharth says about the song, “It’s about our relationship with anything that we obsess over. It could be our relationship with our possessions we take pride in.  It could be about various intoxicants we can’t seem to get over.  The underlying notion of this song is the prolonged self-depreciating obsession, which inevitably has to come to an end, one way or another.”

The eight-track Discord, mixed and mastered at Studio Fuzz, is set to release on February 4th, and the band has two launch shows set up. They’ll perform at Summerhouse Café in New Delhi on February 8th, followed by a set at monthly gig series Unscene at The Humming Tree in Bengaluru on February 9th. After spending a few years working in the studio, the band hopes to pull back into gear with Discord. Bassist Rajan adds, “It has taken a lot longer than we hoped, but now we’re happy with how its turned out, and we are keen to give people something new to listen to.”

Listen to “Levitate. Sanctify. Disapppear.” Discord will be available on all digital platforms on February 4th.