With
live shows on a temporary standstill and the global music landscape currently
at odds with the challenges that come with the complete shift to the digital
realm, more artists are surprisingly making records that represent the
specificity of the times. Never mind the logistical restrictions on the
music-making process: What’s important is that they’re channeling their
personal experiences during forced and self-imposed quarantine through songs
that function like the pep talk the world needs right now—most of the time,
comforting and hopeful, but sometimes a complete validation of our collective
rage, loneliness, and frustration inside.
Now returning
with two new singles that capture the universal sentiments of grappling with an
invisible peril, The Itchyworms drops back to back releases under Sony Music
Philippines—their first under a major label since 2008’s Self-Titled.
Two new singles
“Armageddon
Blues” and “The Silence” are two new songs inspired by the band’s response to
the ongoing social, mental, and emotional crisis that people from around the
globe are facing in the midst of a pandemic.
“Armageddon
Blues,” in particular, is an update of an old demo recorded by Jazz Nicolas
(lead vocals, drums, piano, keyboards, keytar) and Chino Singson (lead
guitarist and backing vocals). With crunching guitar riffs, Beatlesque pop
melodies, and raw but in-your-face production, the latest track from the band
exhibits both ends of the emotional spectrum, as filtered through the lens of
happy-sappy music geeks. As Chino recalls. “I remember it being a fun song to
record. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll see it's very tongue-in-cheek, but very
heartfelt.”
Written
in 2005, the song was supposed to be included on the quartet’s critically
acclaimed album, Noontime Show and
the follow-up record, Self-Titled, but
The Itchyworms felt that it was thematically different and completely ahead of
its time. “Time jump to more than 15 years later, I was the only one who had a
copy of the demo,” Jugs Jugueta (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion,
keyboards) narrates. “Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) happened, and I sent
them the demo of ‘Armageddon Blues,’ telling The Itchyworms to release the
song, because it captures the somewhat end-of-the-world vibe of our present
situation. A couple of weeks into the ECQ, we realized that we’re in this for
the long haul, and that we had to do something creative. We decided to write
and record a few songs inspired by our experiences during COVID-19.”
The
songwriting sessions birthed another single, which already made its rounds on
Facebook a week earlier. Following the official release of “Armageddon Blues”
on all streaming and digital platforms worldwide a day late, “The Silence” was
written by Jugs Jugueta and Jazz Nicolas, and recorded and produced by The
Itchyworms entirely during the Enhanced Community Quarantine imposed over Metro
Manila due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s
what we think everyone is going through right now. Nobody could’ve foreseen
2020 to be like this,” Jugs shares the underlying theme behind the song.
Musically, it’s a mish-mash of influences that put Depeche Mode, Radiohead, The
Beatles, and The Walking Dead in a blender: The production seethes with soaring
builds and nuanced sonic details, but ends abruptly in faded noise—as if the
transmission is suddenly lost in the background, its silence “killing us” infinitely
and metaphorically.
A “Quarantine” Album
Both
songs are part of their upcoming album, Waiting
For The End To Start, which was conceptualized and recorded while the
members of The Itchyworms were confined in their homes, connected digitally by
their resounding “shared” experiences. “Expect it to be unpolished and
imperfect,” Jazz describes the new album. “Maybe a little lo-fi. It’s not
necessarily all about COVID-19, but this is the result of what we feel during
this time. So there’s restlessness, loneliness, boredom, delirium, fear,
uncertainty, and all that jazz.”
Chino
puts into perspective the concept behind the 8-track release, which will most
likely drop sometime in July 2020. “Like any collection of music, it is a
record of its time: A snapshot of the artist's reaction to his or her
circumstances. But it's a concept album in that our aim was to create art in
the midst of a pandemic, to capture our emotions in the music we record, even
with the limited recording gear we have at home. So you'll hear amp buzz and
imperfect vocals, but for me that's part of the spirit of true rock.”
Reunion with Sony Music PH
Waiting For The End To Start is
their second album to be released under Sony Music Philippines. After their
groundbreaking major label opus, Self-Titled,
which made an impact in the local
music scene at the tail end of 2008, the band was forced to go indie after the
label’s short-lived hiatus handling domestic releases.
Speaking
of their reignited ties with the international record label, Jugs tells in a
statement: “Aside from the fact that we felt a sense of familiarity with Roslyn
Pineda of Sony Music PH, as we’ve known her since our college days, we believed
that Sony, being an International record company, could help us reach a wider
audience. We want to reach new and foreign audiences, because our music is
universal and capable of touching several hearts here and abroad.”
Chino
adds, “I feel that Sony is a good place to be for an artist. Their team is
small but they work hard and have their artists' interests at heart.”
“Armageddon
Blues”
is now out on various digital and streaming platforms worldwide. Watch out for
the official release of “The Silence” tomorrow midnight, May 22, 2020. (PR)
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