Written by Anika Maculangan After releasing her debut EP Gabi ng Lagim in 2024, K follows up with her first collaboration, “Dilim,” a single featuring LORY. In the track, what emerges is less a duet and more a convergence; two voices moving through the same storm, not hand in hand, but aware of each other’s shadows. The track doesn’t open the door gently; it surges into the room. From the first downstroke, its intent is not to be misunderstood, but rather, to dislodge, to engulf, and to hum beneath the flesh like a second skin. “Dilim” feels like reading a letter written in a language you once knew, every line familiar but just out of reach, each word flickering at the edge of meaning. The guitars churn like static caught between radio frequencies, and the drums tick forward with the cold precision of a dying clock. K doesn’t sing, she pries sound out of her sternum, each note arriving cracked, as if it’s already lived through the pain it’s meant to express. LORY, whispered but no less real, dances upon the spaces between, like smoke tracing the lines in a windowpane. The track is not linear; it sways, it plunges, it crests in unsymmetrical waves. There is a studied vagueness to it, as though the track had been constructed underwater, under silt and memory. Emotion rises like steam, hot and ephemeral, but the form never coagulates. It’s a song more sensed than taped; held together by mood, not motion. There’s beauty in that blur, and restlessness. The weight is there, yes, but where is it? The track hangs on without completely falling apart. Despite all its weight, there’s a feeling of something withheld, not due to mystery, but restraint. A tremor that doesn’t end in collision. But to define “Dilim” in what it does not have would be inaccurate. There is clarity in its ambiguity, there is comfort as well. Something does not always have to come in whole or in its entirety. Some music is scaffolding; empty frameworks where people superimpose their own ruin, their own fixing. “Dilim” does that. It does not thrust sorrow onto the stage, but offers it. It doesn’t demand anything of its listeners, but allows for them to make the song their own, whichever shape it morphs into, depending on its beholder. And perhaps that is its goal; not to enlighten, but to resonate. Not to answer, but to ring true. The sort of song that doesn’t speak at you but to you. SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST:
Tag: Lory
EP REVIEW: LORY – Cramped
Written by Elijah P. Terno Recording’s wunderkind Lory has stepped out of his comfort zone from being a lone bedroom pop producer from Parañaque to becoming a full blown three-piece with added layers in the mix. In his latest EP “Cramped”, you get to see Mikee Mendoza becoming more lethargic-sounding, scooping all the gruff and making his surroundings a bit louder, albeit a bit rougher than usual. He’s grown to unlike the pop fluff and embrace much of the textures. It’s almost getting there, it just needs a little stir in the pot. In other words, Lory and his friends just need a little bit of spoiled choices in soundscapes rather than choose to spoil the party entirely in reflection of past material. “Cramped” is treated as a sampler to Mikee’s next endeavors for his solo project rather than a bookend to his phase of city pop. Moving on to greater and bigger soundscapes rather than staying in the four corners of his room, you have tracks like “Huli Na Ba Kayo”, “Di Siguro” and “The Sun” embracing all the noise and continuously experimenting what he can do as a musician. Is the EP an “achievement” of sorts? Listeners would doubt its pop resonance and bright textures and would possibly question its length, but “Cramped” is more of an intentional practice of sorts. In “Slow Down”, you’ll be surprised by how this sounds like it should stay from the previous EP. Confidence is what is lacking in Mikee’s presence and maybe a bit of a looser and more liberating use of vocal filters to make Mikee’s voice shine as well as his lead guitars. But as his deadpan delivery persists in the latter half of the EP, the voice becomes a grower in a sense where Mikee’s voice does shine if you look at it in a more uncharismatic-charismatic lens. LORY’s “Cramped” has its ups and downs but to the project’s benefit, the reception is enough to not dismiss the project entirely for the lack of trying and enthusiasm being brought. There are guitar lines and synths being put to good use and maybe “Cramped” is seen better as Mikee’s ground zero compared to what the debut project was at the dawn of the post-lockdown last year. Support the art and the artist:
EP REVIEW: LORY – s/t
Written by Elijah P. Parañaque’s very own desktop pop musician Mikee Mendoza aka Lory released their debut self-titled EP with the help of Terno Recordings. Like a tidal wave on a sunny afternoon, the 16-year old sophisti/city pop wunderkind virtually came out of nowhere. With their label distributor promoting their upcoming EP in the middle of a Facebook doomscroll, the chance of seeing a polo-wearing starry-eyed musician with a knack for guitar licks and synth-y embellishments are unmissable, unless you’re the type to follow Terno’s highly curated city pop picks in the past 3 or 4 years. Apart from this project, it appears that Lory could gel with the Terno crowd, only for a short while that is. Partly this is due to the uncharismatic vocal presence throughout the self-titled project. “Pleaser” and “See The Now” have outstanding chops in composing a colorful mishmash of riffages and bleeps, furthermore the guitar work emulates lounge-y theatrics and the laser-like synth presets hop in and out of the track whenever it likes. But to emphasize chops in a constructive manner, the singing barely carries any of the bright production that’s established in the EP; “Over (Now)” drags tremendously as Lory continues to become a grand champion at the annual snorefest, specifically in the vocal department. Its vocals have become a factor at diluting the soundscapes to mere copypasting of previous musical trends, such as the peak of Spadesmania or She’s Only Sixteen’s millennial Poblacion bar songwriting. Lory instantaneously drags the listener to its doom by providing an underwhelming closer to the EP. The production choices and its outlines are spick and span but its direction leads to a sonic dead end. To what looks like a fantastic from front cover to back listening experience, the debut project holds itself back in tweaking its gear to full throttle. Lory’s self-titled EP is a trial and error piece on city-pop sound design and a clear example of how its vocal performance could potentially end up in becoming a deal breaker for many. Support the art & the artist: