philojain, Riff Raff | Song Review

I

t takes confidence to release an instrumental guitar track and expect people to sit with it. No hook to grab onto, no vocalist to carry the emotional weight, nothing to hide behind. Just the music, take it or leave it. Amit Jain, operating under the name philojain, appears entirely unbothered by any of this and he smashes it with “Riff Raff“.

Riff Raff is a solo track in the truest sense. Jain plays everything, produces everything, and answers to no one. You can hear that independence in the way the track refuses to settle. It moves through post rock atmospherics and progressive metal density without ever fully committing to either, which sounds like it should be a problem and somehow isn’t.

The guitars are the obvious entry point, stacking riff upon riff until the whole thing becomes genuinely overwhelming in the best possible way. But it’s the sub bass that lingers. It sits so low and so heavy that it starts to feel less like a sound and more like a presence. Jain clearly understands that the bottom end of a track is where the real decisions get made.

The influences are worn openly. Pantera, Lamb of God, a touch of Pink Floyd in the more expansive passages. But Riff Raff doesn’t feel like a reference exercise. It feels like someone who absorbed all of that and then asked what comes next.

You can take a listen to ‘Riff Raff‘ by philojain here. 

Four out of five – George James. 

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