Rainburn

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Rainburn is an Indian progressive rock band from Bangalore that started in 2011. The group’s current lineup features founding member Vats Iyengar on vocals and guitar, with Saakallya Biswas on guitars and backing vocals, and Neilroy Miranda on drums. They released their debut EP, Canvas of Silence, in 2014 and later the full-length album Insignify in 2018. Their 2019 release Resignify offered acoustic versions of earlier songs. In 2023, Rainburn announced a second studio album, Vignettes, set for release in November, led by the single “Outrage-Seeking Generation Z Brain.”

The band began when keyboardist Avik Chakravarty and vocalist/guitarist Vats Iyengar formed Rainburn in 2011 in Bangalore. They were soon joined by drummer Praveen Kumar and bassist Jayaram Kasi. Rainburn has undergone many lineup changes over the years. In 2012, Jayaram left and Shishir Gupta joined, with the band recording two demos, “End of Sleep” and “Listen Through the Noise.” 2013 saw more changes: Avik left and was briefly replaced by Ashwin Ethiraj, who also departed soon after, followed by Abhishek Prakash and then Toshimoa Jamir joining.

After the 2014 local release, Canvas of Silence gained wide attention. The Hindu praised it as a brilliant blend of opposing Indo-progressive sounds, and Classic Rock ranked it among the top progressive rock albums of 2015. By early 2015, Toshimoa and Shishir had left, replaced by Vineet Gogoi and Allan Julius Fernandes. Rainburn helped organize the Progworks festival with fellow musician Coshish, and they performed with Ted Leonard (Spock’s Beard) in an unplugged set.

In 2016, Fernandes and Gogoi left, and Ravi Nair and Paraj Kumar Singh joined (the latter only for live performances). In 2017, Rainburn released its first music video, “Merchant of Dreams,” from the project then known as The Anthropic Conceit, which was to be funded by a campaign and followed by a tour. By 2018 the album had been retitled Insignify, and Rolling Stone India named it one of the best Indian albums of 2018.

Rainburn released Resignify in 2019, an EP with acoustic versions of songs from their earlier releases. In May 2020, the band announced that two members had left in late 2019. A few days later, Saakallya Biswas joined as guitarist and backing vocalist. On June 11, longtime drummer Praveen Kumar left, and on September 9, Neilroy Miranda was announced as the new drummer. On February 2, 2021, longtime bassist Ravi Nair left for personal reasons.

In October 2023, Rainburn announced their second studio album, Vignettes, which would feature Biswas and Miranda and focus on standalone tracks exploring life in a metropolis. The lead single, “Outrage-Seeking Generation Z Brain,” came with a video directed by Pranwat Singh. Iyengar described the song as “Tool meets Bon Jovi.” For their style, Rainburn is generally described as a progressive rock band. Iyengar has said the genre lets them explore a wide range of sounds naturally, while Praveen Kumar noted that prog rock provides space to experiment. The band’s influences span pop and progressive rock, as well as Indian fusion music from artists like Shakti and Prasanna.