YENG CONSTANTINO
Synesthesia
THE title of this new album refers to a phenomenon when one’s senses like seeing or hearing triggers another separate sensation. In an interview, Constantino said that she’d see colors when she listens to music. This is rightly so, as some sort of synesthetic blending happens in her sixth album since 2007. Her sad songs evoke feelings of aloneness and inadequacy, while the happy ones awaken active movement like the tapping of feet to the beat.
Curiously, breezy tunes like Pinipigil depict the independence of a woman in love to the point of carefree mischief. The downbeat tracks tend to illustrate the submissive lady such as in Tahimik where the character study would rather keep her love in secret and accept being “…ako na ang martir ng taon!”
Constantino’s Synesthesia captures the dilemma of the modern Filipina, torn between the romantic notions of her parent’s generation’s and the realities of today’s competitive society. One can only wish the music on the album could have provided a more colorful accompaniment to the struggle between the heart and mind.
NEVERDIE
Carry on
EMO punk never really went away. Insinuating itself in the slow numbers of the pop-punk songbook, emo keeps popping up starting with My Chemical Romance in early 2000s right through Weezer’s 2017 release, Pacific Daydream. In the local scene, post-millennial punks carry on the legacy, offering emo as a breather in between furious hardcore sets. Paranaque’s four-piece Neverdie deals a unique card into the deck. Their extraordinary guitarist Bren Pasamba paints winding prog-rock collages behind the battering ram of bassist Lip Dalangin and drummer Pat Santos, while vocalist Tani Carino whimpers or shouts out his personal demons.
Carry On is the band’s second album since their 2013 debut and rather than another helter-skelter clutter, there’s finesse in the way Neverdie grafts well-crafted guitar lines to their hardcore fury.
Something magnificent will finally come out should the band keep on working on its sound. Unfortunately, Neverdie has chosen to lay down their creative devices. (Their final show and formal release of their ironically-named new album will take place on April 21at Mow’s Bar, Matalino St., Quezon City.)
THE WEDDING PRESENT
Going, Going…
UPON the demise of The Smiths, UK’s The Wedding Present assumed the torch of indie standard-bearer in the late ‘80s, bringing into its huge sonic tent pop music fans, misunderstood teenagers and loners of all stripes, including occasional metal heads. The Weddoes—as the music press often called the band—produced catchy songs that hit the charts with a bullet. Ringmaster David Gedge and three loyal lieutenants, assisted by a revolving crew of hired professionals, created music firmly grounded in the electric guitar with elaborate garnishes of Top 40, punk and post-punk influences. Culturally, the band was viewed as the slacker-loving antithesis to the glamorized synth pop that came before them. Fast-forward 30 years later, the Weddoes’ latest studio album starts on a high note, minded apparently in praise of the so-called “experimental or outsider” aesthetic. Old fans will likely be puzzled by the electronic whooshes, the sound of a sputtering tractor, and the ethereal voice circa ‘80s 4AD (British independent record label) that mark the first four tracks. For those not inclined towards “art for art’s sake,” hustle on to track #5 where The Wedding Present—older, wiser—begins a sideways look back into the past: Two Bridges bustling with punk energy, Secretary mixing hardcore punk and indie rock, Birdnest flying on harmony-drenched indie ambiance and Emporia traipsing from a waltz to a metal rumble. Bells is a highlight imbued with a dance-friendly ‘60s psychedelic fuzz. (The Wedding Present goes live at 19 East Bar & Grill, Km. 19 East Service Road, Muntinlupa City on April 17.)