What is the best thing about feel-good music? Well, it can change the mood of a room, a club or an arena right around. Maybe that is why everyone, from Ed Sheeran to Jason Mraz, has been famous over the years for their signature croon. It is probably something that singer-songwriter Sooraj Bishnoi knows all too well.
In his sometimes gentle, well-trained pop croon that variates across 11 tracks on the debut album Here We Go, Sooraj aims to be a crowd-pleaser for the most part. It is easygoing hooks and the standard song structures that kick off the album, like ‘One Last Dance’ and ‘Fairytale’. These are love songs with not much new to offer sonically or lyrically, but you can still sense the authenticity.
Sooraj does have his strongest moments in the first half of the album, however, especially when he takes on the voice of characters – like the accusatory yet cheerful tune that is ‘The Actor’ and the groovy, smooth early single ‘Nemesis’. The 24-year-old Mumbai singer-songwriter, trained at Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles, hones jazz chops and pop sensibilities best on ‘Nemesis’, one that brings exciting variation.
He follows up with help from singer Raye Robinson on the saccharine ‘3am Conversation’, aided by a laid back acoustic guitar. While songs like ‘Awake’ start out promisingly, it seems to retreat to a comfortable space for Sooraj, something that he thankfully breaks out of for his ode to Mumbai on ‘City Beat’. The quick-paced strum adds a folksy vibe, as the vocal harmonies in the chorus give it a memorable soul vibe. On his lengthiest song – the five-minute ‘Grow’ – there is however nothing too interesting going on, with even the vocal melodies unable to leave a lasting impression. The rest of Here We Go, even if it is for three tracks, settles into a sameness that Sooraj can’t quite seem to break out of.
Even the more electric guitar-laced ‘Infinities’ is near-cinematic, but it doesn’t come to hold on to its poignancy. We hope the drawing board holds more diversity for Sooraj after Here We Go.
Hear the album on sooraj.bandcamp.com