Capturing the essence of the festive season is Rohan Solomon’s new video for his song It’s Christmas, which was originally released in 2021. The piano-driven core is kept company by a melodious guitar solo, rich vocal harmonies and a pop-rock melody. He released the music video earlier this month and the cheerful track captures the glow and warmth of the holiday season.

The Delhi-born singer-songwriter, who now divides time between his hometown and New York, gained fame as the frontman of the Delhi-based alternative rock band, Cyanide. He was the assistant engineer to a Grammy-winning track titled, Bubblin by Anderson Paak. He dropped a full-length orchestral pop album, titled Strung Out To Dry, in October this year. Here’s what Solomon has to say.

What does Christmas mean to you?

Christmas to me is all about spending time with family and close friends and enjoying some amazing food. The whole year, everyone gets so busy with their lives and careers that we can hardly find time for one another. But this is that one time of the year when we relax and reconnect with our loved ones.

How do you look back on the past 20 years of your journey?

It’s been such an amazing journey so far. I’ve had the pleasure of touring and playing some of the largest music festivals in the country and releasing so much music. Two EPs and an album with Cyanide, two EPs with two different bands in New York and three solo albums. My third and latest solo album is titled Strung Out To Dry and it’s the perfect way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my musical journey. Looking back at my time in New York where I studied music production and audio engineering makes me very proud of myself and all the hard work that I have put in. To be able to say that I worked on a Grammy-winning song (as an audio engineer on Anderson Paak’s Bubblin) and have since had multiple global chart-topping hits as a producer and an artiste is so awesome. Plus, the two Grammy submissions as well. My journey has, of course, had its ups and downs, but I’m very proud of it and am excited for what’s to come in the future.

Can you narrate the process and time taken to produce this homegrown number?

I produced this track in my studio, Synergy Audio Productions, and played all the instruments on the track as well. I knew exactly what I wanted the track to sound like. I had the vision very clearly set in my head and all I had to do was achieve the vision. The production process probably took a week, including mastering, and the music video took about four days to shoot. The video was a fun process.

Why a Christmas release?

I’ve been pretty consistent about releasing something or the other for Christmas, so it was a nice idea to write an original and release a video for it because this song really deserves it. I actually wrote this while I was still living in New York and it was snowing and I was having a pumpkin spice cappuccino and a gingerbread cookie. It just doesn’t get more Christmassy than that. I just started to hear the piano chords and rhythm in my head, so I sat down at my piano and started fiddling with some chord variations and inversions. As I looked around my apartment, the main thing that my eyes kept focussing on were the Christmas lights, which led to me writing the first lines of the song: I see the lights, they’re shining on brightly today. This just started a chain reaction of creative juices.

What are your upcoming projects?

There are definitely things in the pipeline, but nothing that I would like to reveal. What I can talk about is the biggest project that’s up and running now — my recording studio. I’m so excited to open this studio and give all the artistes in North India access to some world-class recording equipment. I’m also running a chain of music schools called Synergy Institute of Music with my partner Mohit Rathor.