Okay, so here’s my excuse: I was so engrossed in what was happening on screen (Karthik making his first movie in *Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya*) that I didn’t even notice that*Aaromaley* was playing in the background.
This weekend, I finally listened to this song. *Really* listened. To the gentle plucking of guitar strings right at the beginning, somewhat reminiscent of Floyd’s *Wish you were here*. To that blues/rock/whatever wail in the foreground that you can’t make out a single word of other than the title. To the chant-like chorus in the background. Amazing how much work that song does when you see it in context. The almost tortured lead vocals, sounding like they’re coming from a man who has had his heart torn out (which is exactly what has happened). The more sedate chorus, with lyrics about wishing a bride on her wedding day — which is sort of why that foreground is what it is. You might as well call those two tracks Karthik and Jessie. This isn’t a sad song in the tradition of slow, melodious sad songs in Tamil cinema. Nor does it fit the stereotype of the angry, I’ll-show-her sort of song when the protagonist rises from the ashes of a failed relationship to build a life for himself/herself. This is the sort of blues-rock number that we thought fell into a different category from Tamil film music. Until a man named Allah Rakha Rahman showed us different. http://celluloidrant.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/aaromaley/
