The prog-rock-fusion sound really had a big moment in the sun a couple of years back; it was almost like the indie scene couldn’t stop making and listening to it. It had a lot of great stuff going for it. It was complicated, it had a head-spinning amount of depth and density, and hey, it was fun! It was never crafted to actually bring out the best in its constituent genres, but it was just written to be entertaining. And that it was. And then it went away in a sense; one doesn’t hear a lot of that kind of music these days. But Delhi band Kolama take this route on their single ‘Soch’. And, well, the track is a sort of reminder of why that moment in the scene’s history was enjoyable.

‘Soch’ isn’t progressive in its influences or its execution, not by a long chalk. It’s a rock song. The little bits of ‘Indian’ influences are used in a decidedly poppy context, and when the band goes into full riff-drums mode, it lives squarely in the 2000s. It does have a sort of raw, stream-of-ideas sound to it, which is something one would associate with a band just starting out and learning the ropes of rock songwriting. But while it is a little disjointed at times, it still proves the concept. The solo has some good ideas. The changes of pace work. The keys in the song’s last third are actually quite cool as a concept. The solo is quite driving. One doesn’t have to get everything absolutely perfect to sell their choices, and Kolama make a good fist of it.