Straight out of Bristol, Chandra Nair, former frontman for Circa, has a few new singles that are meant to inspire the downtrodden, to motivate the dreamer, and I pretty much bet, to unload these catchy earworms since they were taking up real estate in his brain for far too long. Here's what he's had to say about them. 

"It's not cool to sing about these things. But I want to shout loud and evangelize things that otherwise get demoted to a mere whisper under your breath; mental health, being nice to one another, believing in yourself, and finding the confidence to simply be yourself."

You'll be able to sample those singles here plus more from him Don't Let The Bar Stewards Drag You Down EP. Be sure to scroll down to the end for the lively interview because you won't believe what he caught Jarvis Cocker doing! 

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Earworms Before Deeper Cuts

"Pretty" is Chandra's fifth single, a rework of the demo from his Don't Let The Bar Stewards Drag You Down EP. Both versions are just as tight where Chandra wastes little time to get to the chorus. This setup works for me and is standard for short power punk-pop songs where you could fit 20 of them on a record like many punk albums.

This new rework of the single is different from the demo in that it adds a crowd at the end singing the chorus which makes it more grandiose. I feel that he might have been caught up in the hook of that moment, singing those lyrics when it occurred to him, "Hey, why not let a crowd sing this too!" Yes, why not share this catchy earworm with others? As I listen to it now, singing along, I realize how difficult it will be to get this song out of my head.

I also imagine those he's singing about, "Whatever you wear, whatever your hair, whatever your gender, you're not an offender, whatever your color, creed, bend or look, disabilities, PLEASE! You wrote a new book," are that crowd at the end. It adds more cultural power to that track and It's empowering to those who are being attacked for being what they want to be. Unfortunately, there's a culture war that many of us are being thrown into and we need reinforcements to win as Chandra sings, "And it's peace and war that we're fighting for!"

Prior to that single, "Lighters To The Sky" was making its rounds. For me, this is my first introduction to Chandra. I need to establish that I'm kind of an asshole in that I see little value in this kind of optimism in my punk-n-roll. In fact, it distracted me from the music. You start to notice other elements of the work when you let your guard down. Thus far, I need to accept that Chandra Nair writes catchy pop-punk tunes. If we haven't learned anything from "Pretty", this guy is gonna be who he wants with no regrets which is one gain over writer's block that procrastinating creatives should learn.

Check out the music video to "Lighters To The Sky"

While we're on the topic; this song is for those of you who can't seem to get motivated.

Raise your head, don't look down, look ahead, ignore the crowd what they said, blaze your trail don't be led.

It's at this point that this music is resonating with me and I'm connected with it in this way. These songs so far have been earworms I don't mind having. So far, these tracks serve a purpose, a practicality. While this one doesn't check all the boxes like "Pretty" does, it needs to exist and it's good to know that Chandra has that covered.

Check out some more catchy rock n'roll with Brady Harris' 'Hotel In The Sky'

Chandra's Other Singles Are Even Better

"Ricochet" is another catchy track to add to the growing earworms we've heard and as a demo seems pretty stripped down. It might be the in-between of the previously covered tracks if we're descending from widely accessible to deeper cuts. 

"Boom" sounds as if Scott Weiland were fronting the Violent Femmes and "Overload" sounds a lot like STP's "Atlanta". With Weiland, being one of my favorite frontmen, I felt Nair was channeling the late singer.

These songs show a more personal side of Chandra that we don't get from "Pretty" or "Lighter To The Sky". They're also more melodic, and musically complex. These are the ones I personally connect with but overall see the craft in Chandra Nair's songwriting. I mean, the lyrics to his songs are well-written, showing that he's had some "Eureka" moments along the way. You can check out his earlier tracks, "In This Together", "Over The Waterfall" and "Little Smiles" on Spotify.

A No-Earworms Interview With Chandra Nair

We talk about R.E.M, our favorite Brit pop artists, asshole record store employees and Jarvis!