The Colour Compound Release New Music After 8 Years

Last month, Mumbai pop-rock band The Colour Compound turned back time and played their first live set in over two years at the city-based antiSOCIAL. They previously performed at Goa’s Hideaway in early 2020. Although the pandemic threw a spanner in the works for the band’s intent to work on fresh music back then, bassist Adil Kurwa says, “We’ve managed to cope and rebuild ourselves personally throughout the pandemic.”

That rebuild has also shown through their creativity as Kurwa along with his bandmates – drummer Aditya Ashok aka OX7GEN and vocalists-guitarists Rohan Mazumdar and Bradley Tellis – have released their first piece of new music since their 2014 debut album From Where We Stand. The new optimistic track, “Holding On To The Hope,” was written a year after From Where We Stand was released. Kurwa says, “Rohan put the words and vocal melody quickly after we had a basic arrangement of the song down. The song is about reminiscing about a time that was perfect when in reality it is no longer what it once was. It’s something we can all relate to.”

While a live version of the song performed at Mumbai’s erstwhile Cotton Press Studio has been sitting on the band’s YouTube channel since 2015, the newly released offering includes fascinating sonic embellishments. However, the track does retain The Colour Compound’s quintessential stiff rhythm section, melodic guitar parts, honest songwriting as well as catchy hooks. “We knew what we wanted with the song from the start, we just made a few small tweaks to make it release-ready,” says Kurwa.

“Holding On To The Hope” was recorded in a way the band hadn’t worked before — remotely. Ashok recorded his drum parts at Mumbai’s Glassonion Studio and the other members tracked their parts at their respective homes. Ashok mixed the song while U.K.-based Shawn Hatfield of Audible Oddities mastered it.

Even though The Colour Compound have been sporadic with both performances and releases over the last few years (pre-pandemic included) and the band members being involved in a host of other projects, we ask them if there is a certain sense of being back home when they get together, having started in 2009. Kurwa says, “There’s always a feeling of being at home with The Colour Compound. It’s a band that really thrives when we’re all in the same room. When we started, we would write constantly, and the process was extremely collaborative. Every time we meet we bring new ideas to old songs to keep it exciting for the audience and for us.”

Currently, the band doesn’t have any upcoming shows locked in but with live music now back up and running in full swing, it’s only brighter days ahead for them. On more new music from their camp, Kurwa says, “We have a few more songs in the bag, we will work on releasing the next one over the next few months.”

Stream “Holding On To The Hope” on Spotify below and on other platforms.