The album’s namesake, Run Kitty Run, feels like the opening credits to a Bollywood police-buddy film – with a slight sprinkle of surf-rock guitars. I have no idea what it means but I love it! Despite the odds love blazes defiantly – whether it can survive is another question!” Brilliant. Familiar landmarks like Gol Park are dwarfed by aerial highways and transmitter towers framed by the plumes of departing spacecraft. It sums up the band’s approach, crazy, familiar and sometimes completely bonkers: “…it’s a love song set in a dark sci-fi vision of Kolkata. The bass groove on this alone is way too danceable for good health! I just love the official patter that describes the song. Run Kitty Run opens with the pulsating and pounding, and infectious, Ballygunge.

The vocal lines and lyrics to their music are written mostly in Hindi, Bengali and English. They like to perform original music that blends funk, disco and pop music with the classical and folk music of India, much like the soundtracks of 1960s and 1970s Bollywood movies.

Parvyn is the heroine (often captured and in need of rescue) Shourov the ‘manly’ tiger-villain and Andy is the Captain (hero) – always up for saving maidens in distress, although the roles often move fluidly between them. Within their performances, each plays a character. The Melbourne based Bombay Royale is an 11-piece Australian band fronted by singers Parvyn Kaur Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya and is led by (Captain) Andy Williamson. Their latest album, and most easily available on the local market, packs in a ship’s worth of cultural references from gods to exotic locations and once again show cases the group’s phenomenal musicality in each song, jamming them with psychedelic fanfare and juxtaposition.īefore starting, though, a quick intro might be needed.

Blending Bollywood and Lounge music with James Bond/ The Man From Uncle kitsch and an endless array of Indian legends, stories and romance heroes this The Bombay Royale tell unique stories of cultural diversity so wide it almost encircles the globe twice over. For those of you lucky enough to catch this multi-faceted band at WOMAD, Taranaki, a few years back, you’ll know what force they are on stage.

Bombay royale review