Reeya Banerjee combines her power and perspective in her latest release, ‘This Place’. The album is drawn from her own life experiences, from love, heartache, and lessons that she has learnt along the way. So in that sense, it is autobiographical. However she expands on them artistically, creating grand rock soundscape to carry her vision, her emotion across to the listener. Marked with lyrical sophistication, storytelling, a creative rock pulse, and versatile vocal performance, the songs come alive with imagery, real emotion and honest frames. It’s as if she is projecting these experiences, these moments of healing and growth into the places that she discovers. The concept is immersive. And with the timeframe that travels across past, present and future, it becomes a journey that you will not forget in a hurry.
‘Picture Perfect’ is the first track of the album. It opens with the intensity and detail that you will definitely see recurring in the rest of the album. It has a slapping beat line, a live riff motif and vocals that drift through their energy, picks up on them and takes them to higher places. The imagery is raw with frames of youthful fun juxtaposed with a crumbling reality where it all extinguishes. The artist captures the short lived magic of a connection but also reveals the aftermath of it. So you get to taste that bitter sweetness all across the track.
‘Snow’ is the second song, a track that forms as delicately as the title suggests. However, it also carries that coldness. A sense of loneliness and dark swirl. The track, sparked with blues, heartache, and moody rock, has a whole vibe. Dark with a melodrama that you just can’t get enough of. ‘Blue and Gray’ has a slow burn kind of rhythm as well. The feel is similar to its predecessor, however with a little bit of the umph and energy that we saw in the intro track.
Each track has a mood of its own, just like places. There is a unique feeling to every composition. Her vocals play a big role in exposing the magic of each song. The instrumentals seem to follow suit, so intuitively and naturally that they feel like an extension of her voice. In ‘Misery of Place’, we see a riff heavy track that has a drifting and aimless rhythm with a dark overarching melodic palette. ‘For the First Time’, she combines the excitement and dynamism of trying something new, combining it with a surge of riffs, dazing basslines, and joyful vocals.
‘Runner’ is a riff laden alt rock song that runs. It has an active rhythm, lit up with grooves, soft melodies, and a go go going kind of vocal flow. ‘Sink In’ has a lot of texture. A lot of elements fill up the space in a way that buries you, immerses you, in the best way of course. All the action, so closely packed, feels solid enough to sink your teeth into.
‘Good Company’ is a feel-good song. Her vocals carry the warmth of the theme, the atmosphere of it. As you’re listening to it, the visuals form, people swirl, laughing, hugging, eating, talking, and just having a good time. Lastly, ‘Upstate Rust’, a track that ends the album with the grit and grace that somehow the artist can balance in the most natural way. We see more complex guitar lines, bursting with a freshness that you didn’t expect. It’s a great way to end the album for sure! A new and unexpected place with a little bit of the past, some heartache, and an edgy opinion about it all. Listen Now!
You can listen to ‘This Place’ by Reeya Banerjee here –
Check out ‘Riffs & Roads’ List :
Leave a Reply