Kochi band Fish In The Sink is a relatively new face in the scene, but their fondness for melodic rock tropes holds them in good stead. Their new single ‘Rue’ is mixed by Avial’s Rex Vijayan and does continue a solid variety of sounds and textures, but there’s absolutely no mistaking where there songwriting lives. It’s squarely in turn-of-the-decade rock, and hey, that’s not a thing anyone mentions in music-related conversation much anymore. What that does is give their songwriting a very clear, semi-nostalgic direction while making it sound… a bit fresh?

Rock is a very loose term, and anyone who equates it with more overdriven and heavy sounds will not find ‘Rue’ to be pushing that envelope. Sure, there are guitars and phat drums, but it’s very much in the more mid-tempo, comfortable side of things. Fish In The Sink choose to line themselves behind the lead vocal, and that means the melodic focus (except for the tiniest sliver of a guitar post-chorus) is behing sung melodies. And that’s completely apt. You’re almost duty-bound to write catchy stuff that everyone can sing along to in these situations; those, there are. There is, to be fair, some very agreeable guitar behind it and some nicely mixed acoustic guitar too. This kind of approach begs for two things: simplicity and ease of listening, and the band manages to throw in a bit of a darker sonic touch in the song’s highest point of energy, which is the hook. The song does decide to suddenly get rid of all that momentum and peter off into a relatively tame ending, but that’s on brand too; leave the listener wanting more. One couldn’t expect ‘Rue’ to get them jumping around and getting the heads done in by mean riffs, but for a few casual listens, it’s bang on.