This album opens firing on all cylinders with the pulsating and pounding Ballygunge. The band’s eclecticism is confidently paraded as traditional Bollywood singing styles are melded with pulsing bass parts and vivacious chord strikes. Serving as the soundtrack to a lost film, thematic songs like I Love You Love You paint vivid imagery of a romantic love scene. Comparatively, the album’s namesake, Run Kitty Run, feels like the opening credits to a Bollywood buddy cop film, tinged with playful surf-rock guitars and addictive chorus vocals.
Parvyn Kaur Singh’s falsetto vocals, inspired by classical Hindustani styles, delightfully glide over coarse guitar sounds and triumphant horn sections on The Raan of Kutch. Shourov Bhattacharya’s more downplayed vocals act as a perfect subtle contrast to Singh’s exquisitely dramatic vocals on other songs like Mauja.
The sounds on the album are truly far-ranging, especially on songs like Zhooti Naina, which melds traditional Indian tabla with cinematic strings and propelling drums, and (Mera Nam Hai) Lucky, which mixes a sitar with synths.
This album is a thrilling menagerie of different world sounds mashed into one 12-track experience. It’s not one to miss and is one of the most exciting albums I’ve heard this year.
