Described as a “patikim” of their upcoming album, Ben&Ben’s new singles, “Upuan” and “Magpahinga” are two imaginative and cinematic singles that paint two very different, yet similar stories of empathy and sincerity.
Like just about everyone, the nine piece Pinoy folk-pop band found that the still ongoing quarantine has forced them to make many changes, one of the more prominent was their decision to move in together to create more music.
“We had to find a way to move forward, especially since our bread and butter-live shows- ay nawala na,” said vocalist Miguel Guico, “And once we thought of moving in together, what we realized is ang dami talagang kailangan isipin na hindi mo makikita sa una. So from finding a place down to setting up our DIY studio, we really took the time to figure out everything before we started creating again.”
Though they are unable to perform live anymore, the band made do with holding online shows, stating that though they are unable to feel and absorb the audience’s energy, they hope the joy they feel playing together “translates through the lens.”
“It’s harder to connect to lenses than to actual eyes and actual people,” admitted keyboardist Patricia Lasaten, ”Especially since we’re all introverts, we get energy from the audience. Nakakamiss talaga yung energy na yun na we just bounce of each other. Eventually, we just learned to pretend that the camera is the audience.”
Although the band stated that they cannot disclose any details about their upcoming album, they did state that the album has a lot of songs that were written prior to lockdown which were just “waiting for the right time to be released.”
“In a practical sense, we talk about it in terms of what we feel is best to release. There’s a lot of gauges in terms of what to release, but one of them is: what do we want people to hear from us? What message do we want to send out during this time? So these two songs came out of that discussion,” said Miguel.
The first single the band released from their upcoming album is “Upuan,” which they described as a sort of introduction to the musical and thematic experiments of the album. With its bright and upbeat tune set to lyrics that chronicle the innocence and sincerity of a first crush, the song easily paints a picture of nostalgia and the thrill of love at first sight.
“We incorporated a more visual style in the song, painting a picture for the listener and transporting them to that familiar place, of falling in love with someone they just met, whether that is in a classroom, by the beach, at a restaurant,” they said.
“Magpahinga,” meanwhile, is a somber but comforting song with equally cinematic lyrics of sincerity and empathy. According to Paolo, the song was based on the torrent of emotions he and Miguel felt when their sister contracted COVID-19.
“Kasi kapag nandoon ka sa ganung space, feeling mo na walang katapusan ang mabigat at nagdidilim na mga bagay. Pero kahit na nasa kalagitnaan ng ganoon, pwede ka pa rin pala mag-rest at huminga para mas effectively mo pang malabanan yung kailangan mong labanan,” Paolo further elaborated.
“Upuan” and “Magpahinga” are released by Sony Music Philippines and are now both available in major streaming platforms.