Dibrugarh band Convoy Road doesn’t do much to blow your mind on their refreshingly direct debut song ‘Raaste’, but they do write a strong song and mean what they say. It’s often nice to step back from the sometimes difficult world of innovation and genre and musical complexity and philosophy; sometimes a good pop-rock tune with a nice hook, strong playing and a simple message is a nice thing to hear. In this case, the band does a hopeful number telling the listener to chase their dreams and play music. It really doesn’t matter if it’s a tale as old as time or whatever, it’s still a nice sentiment. Sometimes that’s important.

The playing is quite strong in this four-piece and the songwriting is very much standard, but hey, it’s a debut. There’s some good drumming and a few transitions you’d expect in a modern arena rock song (not surprising given where Convoy Road is coming from), but they’re done real well. The change from the short solo to the second, slightly changed hook is awesome, and the outro where everything winds down has some great synths and some quiet electronic drums (there’s, and this is no joke, a quiet little hi-hat triplet that you will not unhear once you find). Of course, the song’s verse and hook are two of the most comfortable sing-alongs you’ll find. There’s even a good bassline hiding behind all this and some extra production; pianos and strings find their way into the mix at certain moments. So it’s not like there’s not something going on over the four minutes of ‘Raaste’, but Convoy Road aren’t really trying to prove a lot of things. What really makes an impact is how simple the song’s vibe is and how the band’s heart is in the right place. So either you can make a bunch of genre-based opinions or you can, you know, try and do what the band suggests and go make something.