Rain In Sahara is based in Guwahati, Assam and describe themselves as an activist act. Their primary focus is environmental awareness and action, and their music and subject matter deal with those topics. Well, because it’s the modern age where apathy runs deep and the band has such a wide-ranging ‘task’ to perform, it is sometimes necessary that between all the love and care that a piece of art might inspire, there is also some anger. Rain In Sahara knows this, and their pulverizing latest single ‘You Think Our Future Is A Joke’ simmers with the rage of people who want to do something important no matter what.

Enter Shikari is a British band that uses its platform to present commentary about politics, the environment and so on (do check them out if you haven’t). Rain In Sahara has a sort of subconscious kinship with the band on a few different levels which springs out when you listen to YTOFIAJ. Not to say they sound like them or anything, because they don’t. But the rage in the vocal delivery which is part spoken, part sung and part screamed is something definitive that the two bands share. Rain In Sahara also uses a sound that inspires the sort of anger they want to convey; a furious and medium-tempo blend of electronic music and hard rock that has the unmistakable vibe of the kind of mood Muse gets into when they want to make a point. The operatic faux-strings, the heavy guitars, the falsetto vocals and pummeling drums and bass that has become such a potent combo in recent years is present here in all its glory. The production is also super hard-hitting and makes for a truly heady experience when you turn up the volume. But the point of the song is to put its message across.

The whole track is a call to action; a message that is blindingly clear when the music video (that is brilliantly shot and edited) starts with a certain country’s president saying certain inflammatory things about climate change, or more precisely his perceived lack thereof. The song pretty much pulls the listener in and makes them a part of the community that should help us save our soon-to-be-a-lifeless-husk planet and do the thing that all of us are supposed to do. There are themes of rebellion and freedom, of course, but beneath all the messages of ‘F the system’, ‘don’t play their game’, ‘where are our leaders when we need them’ and so on, there is a very pure and potent message of anger. And that in some ways is the most important thing to take away from ‘You Think Our Future Is A Joke’. Words are great, but the point of this song is to make you feel. Feelings prompt action, and a lot of us are just a first step away from starting to actually be of help.