Disclaimer: the writer has a long personal history with three out of four of the band members of Iyer’s Filter Coffee.
The early/mid-2000s were a great time to be an indie rock fan. There was a perfect balance between good bands, access (thank you LimeWire and Myspace), and discoverability. The fact that so many of the stalwarts of that early scene have gone on to become mainstream monoliths in their own right shows how much that era of music still resonate today.
Bangalore-based Iyer’s Filter Coffee and their debut EP, coldturkey are a throwback to that early indie rock sound. The four-piece band stick to the basics of two guitars, a bass and drums (with the odd keys) to deliver up a solid first release.
First up is “Elanor.” What starts off with an Audioslave-esque lead by guitarist Pushkara Ravindra ends up in a freewheeling melodic shred-fest, with front-man Rushil Mishra’s vocals and rhythm guitar harmonising to tie together a sound that stops short on the right side of self-indulgent.
Up next is “Beach,” with its easy toe-tapping lazy groove that gets me smiling every time (thanks to namesake Sachin Iyer). The real pleasure lies in the final third of the song (a common thread throughout the album), which has this delightful break down/sine-wave thing going on for it that’s just sonically gorgeous.
“Soma” is IFC’s signature song, a wailing mix of wah-wah filled fuzz and three-chord guitar grunge with a driving bass that’s bound to get the crowd pumping, even if I’m not completely sold on what the song tries to do. There’s something about the mix that I can’t quite place that undercuts some of the guitar riffs, but I doubt that’ll matter when you’re three beers down, so…
The penultimate song, “Moonlight” opens with a most Indian-indie-sounding riff, before switching things up and veering towards an AM-circa-Suck-it-and-See sound. It’s a surprisingly mature and well-crafted piece, and displays a range and depth to the band that bodes well for their future releases.
“Why Don’t You Come Over” rounds out the nostalgia trip with a dream-pop/shoe-gazy reverb-laden late-night call to lovers past. It’s mellow, it’s airy, it’s a delight to listen to.
coldturkey doesn’t reinvent a genre, nor does it break from long-standing musical traditions, but it ultimately doesn’t have to. It’s a solid debut by a good band that’s slowly etching their mark on the Bangalore music scene, filling a niche and gaining an organic following in the process. They’ve also got a brilliant album cover, which is always a bonus.
coldturkey is available on Apple Music, Soundcloud, and Spotify. Go check them out!
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