Premiere: Bengaluru Band 4 Left Feet Get Grooving on ‘Shine’

When Bengaluru-based Rudrajit Ukil aka Rudra sings, “Shine, my hero shine” on his rock band 4 Left Feet’s new single “Shine,” he’s not rooting for any comic book character or zealous figure. He says matter-of-factly, “It’s a song that I wrote about the bike Hero Honda Shine. I used to have that bike back in the day and it had been with me for a while without causing any problems and providing good service.”

Turns out that’s all it takes to keep the singer happy, as we hear on the groovy, dance/funk track. He adds, “I’ve compared the bike to an ‘ideal partner.’” 4 Left Feet, who came together in 2016 at Bengaluru’s music school Taaqademy, were originally taking influence from mainstream rock, blues and funk bands. Following a few lineup changes and a hiatus that lasted more than a year (between 2017 and 2018), 4 Left Feet returned in mid-2018, featuring Rudra, guitarist Ankur Das, bassist Rahul Chidambaram and drummer Shakthi Prasad.

Rudra says the band wanted to get into writing songs which had “good grooves and dance elements in them,” which “Shine” delivers without faltering. Das adds a bluesy solo in the last minute of the song, supplemented by robotic synth portions which show off a futuristic funk sound. The song — released alongside the hip-hop leaning “BOYBOM” — was produced by just the right man for the job – synth artist, keyboardist and producer Bharath Kumar (from live electronica trio DCF_Shapes). Rudra adds, “We have seven more tracks coming up which will constitute the band’s debut album, Keep Your Feet Moving. The entire album should be up in a couple of months from now.”

Listen to “Shine” below.