“We were so young back then,” Ace Del Mundo said in a smile remembering some time ago that Orange and Lemons (O&L) was so passionate in their music that their ‘creative differences’ was enough of a reason for them to part ways.
More than 10 years later, the passion is rekindled as they release a new single Pag-ibig sa Tabing Dagat with a newly formed brotherhood of frontman Clementine “Clem” Castro and brothers Ace and JM Del Mundo as well as arrangements by keyboardist Jared Nerona.
Kundiman inspired
Known for their smooth and slow Rock and almost western funk, inspired by their influences The Beatles, the band decided that this was a time of evolving from their British icons and defining this generation of O&L.
“A fusion of Kundiman, a genre of traditional Filipino love song with boss nova elements and the indie guitar pop sound the band is known for,” Castro described their new single that just came out the market but is not so new to him.
“It’s an old song. I have this habit of writing and writing songs and we just pick songs whenever we need an album,” Castro explained that a majority of the songs in their albums were already written even before Love in the Land of Rubber Shoes and Dirty Ice Cream made its debut.
The composer further explained that it was back in 2007 when he wrote the single and it wasn’t even for O&L but for acclaimed Bossa Nova artist Sitti Navaro.
Since it was never used, the original arrangements and vibe of the song was burnt to ash and was reincarnated in the bands return to the scene.
Cover art was made by Mark Villanueva, an artist from Baliuag, Bulacan, a testimony to the band paying homage to their roots and the hopeless romantics that find themselves daydreaming at a seashore.
All-Filipino album
Assuring those who missed these iconic OPM artists, Castro made sure that we knew their reunion doesn’t just end with a single.
“We try not to repeat ourselves [so we wanted] to challenge ourselves with an all-Filipino album,” he affirmed.
Part of their growing, their first get together as a band after the break-up was in 2017 where they remastered the songs of Love in the Land of Rubber Shoes and Dirty Ice Cream as part of its 15th anniversary.
Castro admitted that they wanted to re-record as to “fix their accents” which had that hard British slang.
Now available for streaming, Pag-ibig sa Tabing Dagat is on its way for a Music Video shoot which will feature Alessandra De Rossi and Empoy Marquez. O&L hope to top off their year with a Canada tour in September.