Bangalore duo LAVI & Foenix have been making waves of the funk-pop-R&B kind ever since their EP ‘No Phones At The Dinner Table’ came out last year, and they’ve had quite the run since. Some shows, a great single ‘Ghum’ that came out relatively recently, and a spot at this year’s Weekender; all this is nothing to scoff at. There’s plenty of reasons to follow these two as they continue to do cool things in the general scene – they’re groovy, they’re very much ‘of the time’, and they can write songs equally appropriate for a quiet listen and a live-gig dance sesh. We’re going to talk about ‘Ghum’ because that song is all these things.

There’s an eminently agreeable mix of sounds to be found on this song. Rohit Mukherjee (Foenix) takes loads of cues from loads of influences in his production; you’ll find classic 90s scratching, classic 70s soul strings, guitars that would sit comfortably in a good Jungle song (did any of you find their new album just a little underwhelming, by the way?) and boxy drums that follow the 2023 synthpop blueprint. He’s obviously good at his job, so all of this combines to form an impressively cohesive whole. In fact, you probably won’t be picking parts out because you’ll be busy grooving along. Lavanika Bahuguna (LAVI) has one of most accessible and radio-friendly voices in an electronic-pop duo out of the Indian scene in recent memory, but she doesn’t lean on it too much. Her hooks are dangerously catchy, and her verses are not far behind. You can tell that there’s a solid knowledge of phrasing and writing structure here, and that’s not even the most important part of the vocals overall. She doesn’t phone in her parts and actually puts some feeling into her delivery; this is the one piece that turns ‘Ghum’ from just a nifty bit of music into a genuinely enjoyable song. Go catch them live, and go listen to this a couple times. Lots of people around you are doing the same.