Band Spotlight : Songs of Petrichor
Sprung from the feeling of rain-induced nostalgia and a cultural journey , Songs of Petrichor is a progressive rock band with hints of Eastern grunge , erasing borders through their music . They gave Suzanna Hayek a glimpse into the future of music .
The three-piece band formed in Jeddah , a city on the west coast of Saudi Arabia - where up until 2017 , live music was purely an underground affair ( due to certain conservative ideolgies ).
Songs of Petrichor consists of Shahrayar ( 26 ), a markeing professional on vocals and guitar , Omair ( 28 ), an operations manager on drums and bass guitar , and Yousef ( 37 ), a project manager on lead guitar and bass .
The trio came across the word petrichor , which means the smell of rain , in an online dictionary . The word reminded them of the nostalgic feelings evoked by rain .
“ So we thought , you know what ? Let ' s start a project and let ' s focus on tapping certain emotions . And the other thing we settled on is , we realise that most of the artists out there , they don ' t write meaningful lyrics . So we decided that let ' s write songs based on lyrical content and then we can add music to it ,” said Shahrayar .
Their new single " Nomad " is essentially about searching for ‘ home ’, which can be an illusive concept for people who have been immersed in different cutures – like all three members of Songs of Petrichor .
Omair , who has been living in Saudi Arabia for the
Photo by Saif Al-Turki . From left to right Omair , Shahrayar , and Yousef while filming the " Nomad " music video past four years , and has also lived in Malaysia , Sweden , and Australia , said : “ It ' s about not belonging to a single location . So let ' s say I have lived in a lot of different places and I ' m not sure what home is and I don ' t know what home will be . It ' s kind of something a lot of expats go through . It ' s really about the journey and the adventures you have within , and the sense of not belonging anywhere .”
Shahrayar added : “ We ' ve all travelled around , so we ' ve come together just for the purpose of sharing our experiences through the power of music ."
Omair was given Shahrayar ’ s contact details during a friendly discussion about his musical hobbies with his CEO , after the success of a project he was involved in .
“ I thought , oh God , I have to pretend to like somebody and just meet them as a formality . But we met up and turned out we listened to the same music and we started meeting quite regularly . And the big deal for me , is that in underground rock bands , the vocalists are usually trash . And here ' s a guy who can actually sing ,” said Omair . Shahrayar , a Pakistani national born and raised in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia , took up singing lessons at school
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