Jaimin Rajani's first album 'Cutting Loose' blends jazz, rock and country genres

Not every day does a debut indie album make you sit up and take notice There is something refreshing yet nostalgic about Kolkatabased composersongwriter Jaimin Rajanirsquos Cutting Loose which dropped on August 19 For starters the 14song album is a departure from truncated EPs or singles that dominate the audioscape today The work a product of two years is a compilation of some enjoyable originals with the added presence of stellar names such as Ralph Pais Patrick Fitzsimmons Rahul Ram and Susmit Bose among othersDrummer Aniruddha Saha at the recording session for the albumIt was not easy Rajani admits about approaching these veteran artistes ldquoThey had no reason to play on my songs I am a nobody and was approaching them with no prior credentialsrdquo he says The solution was to send them his recordings with a simple request In a cinematic twist they all agreed ldquoI was lucky that to one turned me downrdquo he confesses In the midst of 2021 the recordings took place remotely with Pais working in Goa Ram in Delhi and Fitzsimmons in his Texas recording studioA selftaught musician the 31year old composer picked up the guitar just eight years ago at 23 after several years of indirect music tutelage from Hank Williams Cliff Richard Bob Dylan and Dire Straits ldquoI was hearing these melodies in my head In order to bring them out I had to learn the instruments It was the only way to materialise the songs in my headrdquo he reveals The album he adds is a compilation of songs that he has been working on since then It was only in 2020 that he felt ready to bring out the albumRahul Ram features in the song Shersquos running late Pic CourtesyUddhav AroraHis first collaborator was lead guitarist Subharaj Ghosh with whom the songs were threshed out ldquoAs a selftaught musician I did not have the vocabulary to elaborate on my ideas Subharaj was my translator and understood what I wanted in the songsrdquo Rajani explainsThe jazz influence was brought in by the trio of Arka Chakraborty and drummers Arjun Chakraborty and Aniruddha Saha The album is refreshingly original in its construction The influence of jazz blues and rock music is held in balance by Rajanirsquos lyrics ldquoThe unified sound was a conscious attempt to be different from any other composition that was out thererdquo the composer elaboratesSusmit Bose at a previous performance Pic CourtesyFacebookThis writer was impressed by the lyricality in She and Shersquos running late While the former is elevated by Rajanirsquos lyrics and the intricacies of Pais on the guitar the latter has the unmistakable signature of Ramrsquos bass Then there is Never Mind with Bose making a rare appearance The composer marks it out as his favourite ldquoEvery instrumentalist on the song was at their best I feelrdquo he declares This writer also recommends Something here mdash a song elevated by the use of Kalyan Majumdarrsquos captivating sitar solo and Abhay Sharmarsquos saxophoneThere is an oldschool touch about the composerrsquos insistence of releasing the album in complete ldquoThe converstion around new singles and EPs fades away after a monthrdquo he says The composer insists that he will take some time off before he sets out to work on his next project For now he should enjoy the good startLog on to Cutting Loose on spotifycom or YouTube