Album Review: ‘Labyrinth’ by Soft Blood
The laidback charm of indie band Soft Blood finds a comfortable home in the band’s first official release.
Labyrinth is an EP that succinctly presents the band’s American indie-infused sound while managing to hone out more than a few solid tracks in the process.
Trippy, aquatic guitar riffs that pay homage to United States indie mainstays like Mac DeMarco provide the band with its underlying template, while its minimalist rhythms add some power-pop simplicity to the mix.
Released under promising new label Misashi Records, the album could be the beginning of an equally promising career for the band.
Soft Blood is made up of vocalist and synth player Andri Cahyaningtyas, bassist Dini Lestari, vocalist and guitarist Mirza Pahlevi Wardhana, guitarist Rizal Taufikkurohman and drummer Surya “Kuya” Fikri.
The band came together after the breakup of Mirza and Dini’s previous band Sadford Lads Club. The duo quickly recruited the other members and began writing songs together — a process that did not come easy initially.
“Our musical chemistry in the beginning was not fully formed, but I think we managed to get our thoughts together eventually,” said Mirza.
Dini concurred, adding that it would be boring if all the members of the band had the same musical tastes.
The band members write about what they know, and Labyrinth is evidence of this.
Being in their mid-20s, they sing about “relationship goals”. The lyrical focus on the subject matter was the most exciting part of writing music as a group, Surya said, citing the song “Hold Me” as one of his favorite examples.
Mirza said that writing about things “we can relate to” was easy, even if the end result — with the songs continuously themed “love” — differed from his initial vision.
It actually wasn’t easy, because I had to try to write about these things and avoid sounding cheesy. I think I failed. Honestly, I feel that I am not a great lyricist,” he said.
In truth, the album’s simple lyrics work well because they are direct and relatable to those close in age to the band members.
The album found its title based on the band’s feeling that recording it felt like navigating a labyrinth.
“I mean, from a sound perspective, we were definitely still trying things out, figuring out what our sound was. There were moments when we felt lost and stuck with our music. But, eventually, there was a way out,” Mirza said.
The five musicians currently live in different cities — Jakarta and Bandung — which makes producing music a fun but difficult challenge.
“Because of our distance, it takes weeks just to finish a song,” said Mirza, who considered the distance disheartening as he enjoyed the creative process of working together in a studio, honing in on “every detail”.
“There were so many ideas floating around, even if we have yet to reach our fullest potential. But still, I feel satisfied with the end result. It’s about 90 percent of what I expected it to be,” he added.
Bassist Dini said that Soft Blood benefited from being born in the internet age, meaning that they were able to work on parts of the album separately, trading files via email in the process.
“We were able to keep the recording process going and stay productive even though we weren’t quite in the same place.”
Dini said that their power came from having different visions and influences.
Surya, for example, is into surf rock and Japanese city-pop artists from the 1980s like Tatsuro Yamashita and Hiroshi Satoh, which none of the other band members were familiar with.
“We also have different personalities that complete each other,” Dini said, citing Mirza’s obscure taste in music, Ijal’s quiet demeanor and Kuya’s quirky personality.
courtasy : thejakartapost.com
photo : Metal-Temple.com
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