Bangalore singer-songwriter Pratik Tushar goes for a laid-back vibe on his sixth single (so he is still just starting out in his career by most metrics) ‘All At Ease’, a song that deals with anxiety. It’s a easygoing and warm tune that takes advantage of its chosen sound (soft pop-rock balladry), so it’s altogether a solid, simple outing. That is, of course, until you sit down and focus on the few individual parts the song contains. Then it takes on a bit more dimension. The song deserves that much.

The almost 4-minute-long tune features some great vocals from fellow artist Frizzelle D’ Souza, who uses the tremulous modern pop delivery basically every R&B-adjacent chart-topper uses. It fits basically anywhere when done tastefully, and that is certainly the case here. The supporting cast of instrumentation is a really simple, earthy drum sound (the groove is as basic as you can get and thus stays nicely out of the way) and well, guitars. There are a bunch of lines throughout the song that cover the gamut of things you can do in this genre tonally. It’s like hearing your dream pedalboard, almost. There’s modulation in the song’s first half. Then it switches to something more driven and urgent. All the while, there’s some wobbly, slinky rhythm parts running behind these more ‘lead’ bits. They provide great entertainment and as usual with songs like this, it’s the bassline behind it all that’s quietly the star. Overall, ‘All At Ease’ gets all its components right, and that is more than half the battle. Well worth a go on your work playlist.