MUMBAI: Rohan Solomon is a singer-songwriter, composer, vocal coach and audio engineer, all rolled into one. Well-known, in the Indian indie circle, as the vocalist of Delhi-based Alt-Rock outfit Cyanide, Rohan starting exhibiting his musical abilities at a rather early age.
In the era of Channel V, Launchpad and the Great Indian Rock Concerts, Cyanide was successful in making its presence felt in significant Indie Rock events of the country, in a short span of time.
Rohan, moved to New York a few years ago, where he met his soon to be new bandmates – By Chance and the trio of business partners, decided to name themselves after their fortuitous coming together for the love of music. Alongside Rohan Solomon (Frontman and Vocalist of Cyanide and Siren), By Chance comprises of Jeet Suresh Paul (Frontman and Vocalist of Meaxic) and Cheilean Jacob (Drummer and Percussionist for Siren).
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During his time in New York Rohan also was a part of a Grammy Award winning track called Bubblin by Anderson Paak, in the capacity of an assistant engineer.
By Chance released its debut single titled Blue Sky earlier in 2019. The single, which is a part of a three-song series, as luck would have it, took shape after Rohan returned home to Delhi, and pangs of nostalgia for the Blue Sky and pollution free capital city that he grew up in.
His next release, takes off from where Blue Sky ends. Called Hard to Breathe, the track enunciates the reality of living in the city of Delhi, which is now always in the ‘unfit air quality’ category.
The track is Rohan’s takeaway from an unpleasant real life situation. Rohan elaborates, “This is a song that talks about the impact of the growing pollution in New Delhi. The songwill take the listener through, a real life incident that led my band mates to rush me to an emergency room, because it was indeed Hard To Breathe, for me. It’s got a Hard Rock/Alternative Rock tonality to it as alsoa steady melody with pop chorus harmonies and an aggressive rock feel to it. The significance of this track is to give the listeners a bit of a jolt about the alarming state of air pollution, but the tonality of the pop chorus leaves us with a positive note and an affirmation that there is still hope left!”
The band went old school and recorded the tracks in the analog domain at Engine Room Audio, which is one of the biggest recording studios in New York City.
Talking about the his experience of going back to analogue recording, Rohan says, “About the song technology, it was liberating and refreshing to not be dependent on virtual instruments and MIDI and use only analog equipment to record this song. I feel that’s what gives this song its depth…”
The third track of the trilogy will be out soon.
The first two tracks are available on all major streaming platforms.
Their past releases include Lead The Way – Rohan Solomon (2009), Sugarcoated – Cyanide (2012) and Moving On – Rohan Solomon (2015).
