Shubham Semwal is a songwriter from Dehradun who has risen quickly in the last year with a flurry of singles that show a good understanding of indie and feature some really catchy music. His single ‘Tishnagi’ came out in January but just got a music video, so it’s a good opportunity to revisit the song, and it is well worth your while. It is an excellently crafted piece of guitar-backed indie with some great vocal melodies, a wonderful hook and generally great things all around.

The hook is incredibly catchy and features a really nice progression (those who appreciated John Mayer’s ‘New Light’ might find the little turnaround in the middle noteworthy), but it’s not just the songwriting choices; the instrumentation is excellent too. The bass especially does a hell of a lot of work in the verses, providing licks that can be played again and again. The bridge completely changes the mood and lifts us into a much sunnier place before dropping us back home for the last refrain, which is a classic move that pays off well. Semwal sings about good old unrequited love (we’ve never heard that one before) and all that, but to be honest, the song does have a generally cheerful vibe to it, so it works even as a statement of moving on. ‘Tishnagi’ just doesn’t make any mistakes, so it’s a great listen throughout. It gets all its elements right and combines some really nice sing-along sections with equally accessible sounds. It’s just a straight-up good song; expect repeat plays.