The influences of the 60s and 70s run like blood through the veins of the dirty, bluesy and thumping new single from guitarist-songwriter Farhaan Mistry, ‘State Property’. There’s everything a fan of that time would love; filthy guitars, classic grooves and a chorus/refrain/riff that would get any British festival crowd singing along loud enough to drown out the PA (watch compilations of them doing exactly that, and you’ll see what that means). Does it spark a cyclic and ultimately pointless conversation about relevance and freshness in the modern music landscape? It would if it isn’t so much fun to listen to. Some musicians delve into the whole nostalgia thing and make ever faithful recreations but forget the single most important thing about that time. That thing is that the songs were all flat-out bangers. That’s what won youngsters over back then, and that is what Farhaan gets right here and now. Everything else can go kick rocks. Perhaps that was the sentiment back then too.

Fine, we can be pedantic for a second here. There’s a nice reverb on everything. The bass sounds like the friend of some old Hofner (it isn’t). The idea of the vocals following the guitars and then a tambourine coming in on the second cycle will make you goose-step the way Jagger did. There’s more dirt on the vocals than an city road during the monsoon. The drums do little more than act as an unrelenting pulse, but that’s their job. There’s a switch-up toward the last minute of the tune where shrieking guitars give way to a half-time section that gets very classic rock and cluesy, big ol’ low-end, psychedelic solo and all. But somehow, all this is secondary. What really does matter, and what ‘State Property’ gets as right as possible given the era, is the spirit of the thing. Farhaan Mistry realizes one thing to his credit, which is keep it simple, raw and have as much fun as possible. That’s what rock was at times, and that’s what this is. Derivative or not.