Mumbai three-piece sunset on the cliff have a certain air about themselves on their debut single ‘it’s(you)’. Back in the day, there was a program called VH1 Playlist on a thing called television. There were also radio (that thing in your car) shows that took requests from listeners (there still are). This song is absolutely emblematic of what a lot of young, heartbroken people would ask to be played on those old, archaic programs. This will be nostalgic to a few people and absolute gibberish to others, so the simple way to say it is: indie rock used to be wildly popular because it was emotional and really fun to listen to. It isn’t as dominant a sound now, but it’s still great fun. This song proves that.

There’s a vibrance to this sound that is conspicuously absent in today’s coke rap and quiet chamber pop. Guitars are driven, but not too much (Chasing Cars introduced this to many people). The drums are big, simple and really easy to vibe to. Vocals are, of course, sentimental and often a bit dramatic. The lyrics are heartfelt but will usually be filled in by whatever you, the listener, are thinking. sunset on a cliff take excellent advantage of these traits by cutting out a lot of fluff and being a three-piece. There’s the now-mandatory infusion of synthpop and vaporwave that has permeated every modern sound at this point, but it’s done quite tastefully here. A synth and a vocoder are easily discernable and do a pretty adequate job of 2022-ing. All analysis aside, what ‘it’s(you)’ does get right is its vibe, and that is purely because it commits to its sound. This is music people in 2011 would sing their hearts out to at festivals while checking if they still had 3G on their prehistoric smartphones; turns out that’s a great feeling to have.