Written by Louis Pelingen Amidst the up-and-coming music collectives putting their marks this year with exciting sonic palettes on their sleeves, KINDRED stands alongside them with the utmost glee. The eight-member boyband that, based on their singles, music videos, and live performances alone, the remarkable quality shines through immediately with how much they work together as a group, able to plug into a focused and genuinely exciting alternative sonic palette despite each member’s own brand of creative flair and perspective. It’s a tangible connection that eventually manifests through ‘Subset’, their debut mixtape being worked on in the oven for around 3 years. ‘Subset’ is a fitting title for the stacked tracklist on display, a mixtape that showcases a glorious array of OPM and Boyband material meshed in with UK Garage, Breakbeat, Alternative R&B, and so much more. Within the 15-track hour-long length of the mixtape, KINDRED’s ability to create joyous eccentricities is surprisingly consistent all throughout, allowing their experiments and flashy energy to easily let the melodies snap brightly, highlighting the boyband’s strength to focus as a unit even more. Just like the singles leading up to this project, the deep cuts are just as colorful and robust. The jersey club bounce of ‘KZONE’, the drum and bass beat leading into that stomping bass rumble on ‘Losing U’, the atmospheric bass knocks of ‘Afterglow’, and the one-two punch of ‘L Punch’ and ‘R Punch’ where the former’s electrifying guitar passages transitions to the latter’s calmer yet nevertheless sticky melodic flows are continuous instances of that creative flair popping away into exciting territory. The word ‘connections’ is something the boyband emphasized deeply in this project, not just on the romantic relationships that are filled with tender passion and sincere yearning, but also on the inspirations that led them to where they are right now and the bonds that they’ve made and cherished within their own group. ‘Megastar – Interlude’ is one of the two touching examples of this, where Sharon Cuneta questions her stardom that will inevitably fade as she observes her friends getting weary. Yet, she knows that the younger generation like KINDRED will play those old tunes, a message that’s executed dearly with KINDRED harmonizing beautifully with Sharon at the end. ‘Ligaw’ is the other example that speaks of the boyband’s sparkling synergy. Harking to the retro boyband sound where their vocal harmonies harness a sense of grace to that era, a dedication to that past as KINDRED glides towards the future with their bonds, their inspirations, and their relationships moving them further into something worth clinging on. With the dynamic swerves on display, KINDRED within their creative stronghold not only redefines the concept of a boyband where their bonds allow them to create such magnificent tunes all on their own control but perhaps even open up a new arc for what OPM can head into; infusion of genres that makes for a rejuvenating experience for both the artist and the audience. With the rise of interest towards certain dance-focused electronic genres in the local scene, ‘Subset’ does feel like a celebration of past influences mixed in with contemporary sonic landscapes that brim with a prismatic quality. Perhaps prismatic is the best word to describe the project, with each member’s bright light collectively scattering through different directions, they become varied colors that spark individually yet gleam together as one. Support the art & the artist:
Tag: Louis Pelingen
ALBUM REVIEW: juan karlos – Sad Songs and Bullshit Part 1
Written by Louis Pelingen The recent meteoric success of Juan Karlos stemming from one of the singles on their recent release, “ERE,” – enough to build enough traction to debut at no. 177 on the global Spotify charts – signifies how ingrained he has been in the local scene for the past couple of years. Despite some shaky conflicts that occurred before, when he eventually stepped into the broader swells of pop rock carried through his emotive delivery and songwriting ever since he and his band started off with ‘Buwan,’ it garnered widespread interest for Juan Karlos to keep going along on their overall grand yet simultaneously dull and stilted sound. It is a sound that is starting to feel rather frustratingly overdone in recent memory, expansive and well-produced but lacking in interesting songwriting throughlines. Despite the success, the band’s new entry in their catalog is deeply entrenched in post-breakup frustrations Juan Karlos has gone through, laying down these love songs initially written for a compilation that eventually became rather bullshit to him after his breakup last year. Hence, these melancholic songs are now packaged on Sad Songs and Bullshit Part 1, the first installment of a two-parter project dipped in a baffling release strategy to slice the 18 written songs into two parts instead of picking the strongest songs to make a focused release (even if this strategy has started to work for the band given the success of “ERE”) all centered on amping up the overall display of catharsis from this heartbreak. This project is confident in putting up these raw emotions in the open, presenting an attempt from Juan Karlos to make it closely personal as he belts out strings of crowd-ready hooks toward this post-breakup narrative that has struck the mainstream local scene time and time again. Yet, to be blunt, this approach starts to hit clumsy and route results, where the blatant move to lean towards the 2000s era sonic palette from the instrumental tones just falls short in a lot of its ideas, where there aren’t that any interesting swerves on either melodies or production. The other reasons this record does not stick come from Juan Karlos’ vocals and songwriting, where his emotional bellows start to get overbearing, and his songwriting leaves nothing but the surface-level poetry surrounding him circling around the heartbreak in a self-important framing. His shouty croons on the pop rock swell of “Time Machine” and “ERE” become a head-scratcher, especially with the latter track where his delivery of the profanity on the hook only sounded silly rather than convincing. The acoustic heartbreak reflection on “Lumisan” is a bland Ben&Ben takeaway due to those vocal melodies. And the adult-contemporary cut of “Manhid” is nothing short of anything special despite the well-produced shuffling melodies. But the tracks that make this overall narrative quite sour are the piano ballads “may halaga pa ba ako sayo??” and “Tapusin Na Natin To” featuring Paolo Benjamin, from the details that only imply a guarded deflection on dealing with this heartbreak to Juan Karlos’ vocalization at its very worst, tends to push further to the point of being obnoxiously overdramatic. And those tracks eventually color a lot about the record, even with the gorgeous Sufjan Stevens-esque acoustics of “Gabi” featuring Zild and “Paruparo” or the communal vocals that help elevate the title track. Whatever quality they do have just gets stifled overall. Stacked to the gills with uninteresting elements culminating in a lackluster project coming from the soundscape that leans on 2000s sonic aesthetics without any interesting melodic or instrumental flair, vocal emotionality that only gets overdone and annoying, and, of course, songwriting circling around reflections on Juan Karlos’s past relationship delivered with a pompous and shallow affair that serves to deflect around it. Though given the title itself, it sure is rather apt to call it that, an album with many underwhelming sad songs and a lot of self-important bullshit. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: Gabba – Recollections
Written by Louis Pelingen Constraints can be a demotivator towards an artist’s own journey towards creation, whether that be due to the limitations that they’ve struggled through either the environment that they’re in during a specific point of time, the collaborations with other creatives that need a specific amount of mutual understanding to follow through their output, or the sudden frustrations within one’s own capability as an artist. Because whether reasons that may be, the one thing that an artist wants as they grow older is to let go of the stirring process to create and allow that spontaneous liberties to flow through; allowing them to be at ease in every step of the creative process just to make something that still shows that they still got it. After 2 years of going through creative frustrations himself, Gabba Santiago of Instrumental post-rock and prog-rock band Deb & Gabba (FKA Tom’s Story) takes a different tact towards creating his solo debut album, where his process for collaboration and composition has a lot more free rein that allows for a lot of creative liberties. A kind of tact that treats the making of music more as an expression of Gabba’s own imaginative spirit with a lot of casual, back-and-forth exchanges with his collaborators as well as letting his creative mind do the talking when it’s time for him to make the melodies in this record. Letting spontaneous ideas bubble up rather than leaning into a calculated mode of music-making. It circulates all in ‘Recollections’ being an album that celebrates Gabba’s personal freeing joy in creating music as well as serving as a sonic diaristic journey towards his life experiences. And true to its name, the album does have a lot of blends in terms of tones, dynamics, and textures that lay into Gabba’s technical musicianship and the collaborations that helped along with the project. The Math Rock riffs and pulsating rhythms of ‘Overcurrent’ and ‘Puzzle’ swivel through the post-rock sensibilities, not breaking them apart as the added presence of synthesizers as well as Clara Benin’s vocals on a couple of songs makes a lot of those fiery guitar and drum patterns to be a lot more comforting and loose. The same thing goes for ‘Woodcraft’ with the Saxophone playing by Miguel Jimenez with its calming tone that eventually accompanies the soaring progressions in the latter half of the song, the buzzy synth tones that slide around Bea Lao’s shuffling drum work on ‘Linear’, and the frenetic drum patterns that drive around the low-key atmosphere of ‘Paradigm’. While the record presents a lot of calming soundscapes all throughout the record, Gabba also embraces a lot of progressive rock swerves that allow his joy to be immense in scope. The crashing drums and expressive guitar riffings of ‘Zoomies’ certainly do their work, especially with its brief 2-minute runtime. And the distorted guitar tones that are present on ‘Fury’ and ‘Coastline’ certainly end the record on a high note where the former song imbues the unwinding melodies with an erupting edge, all with crumbling riffs and sneering noise; the latter song sweeps the meditative melodies and mix with the echoing guitars letting out one more emotive charge just before it calms down in the end, the eventual calm after the storm. It certainly has a lot to offer given the amount of tones, collaborations, and textures that are sewn into this record and Gabba certainly had a lot of fun making this in the studio, but there are some issues that can either be distracting or underwhelming. On the former instance, it’s mostly towards the mixing of the record, where a lot of the drum and guitar fidelities can sound haphazard from track to track even if it makes sense due to the composed feel that this record is providing, but it can still be quite the frustration every time it pops up. And on the latter instance, there are certain experimentations on the additions of sound that could’ve been implemented into these songs a lot better, as some of the synth and vocal implementations are there for fleeting texture rather than adding a lot more to the melodies of these songs as well as the fuzzy drum machines that may add a different tone from the organic percussions laced throughout the record but can sound flimsy than it should be. The shorter interludes like ‘Goofy’ and ‘Layout’ don’t do much in the tracklist at all with their repeating motifs that only thin out in the end. ‘Fridge Magnets’, ‘Quiver’, and ‘Interim’ also have their weak spots, where the progressions that settle into that calming atmosphere don’t open up into intriguing transitions or switch-ups alongside texture over melody soundscapes make them sound unremarkable than the others. And then there is ‘Here Now’ where despite the presence of the keys and the electronica that tilt at the end of the song, it’s one of the instances where that lilting presence ends up being a bit more hamfisted as a result. Gabba’s solo debut is an effort that shows a lot of strengths as a result of him finding a freeing process of making music, sharing ideas with his collaborators in a much more casual manner, and letting the music be a celebration and an inspiration for himself and for others as well. It may be a collection of songs that have their high points and low points, though it also pretty much feels like reading through a diary where you’re able to see how that person is going through, joys and frustrations and all. While it is frustrating at a few spots due to the haphazard mix, meager sonic implementation, and bland melodies, to hear Gabba feeling a lot more joyous and explorative within the record through the amount of variety of sounds and styles does shine through a lot. A starting point for sure, “Recollections” is a record that’s led to its highs rather than lows. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: Noa Mal – The Anatomy Of Emotional Hijacking
Written by Louis Pelingen Starting around 2019 and onwards, no one is putting in the amount of output that Noa Mal has churned out year after year. In other parts of the world, there are a lot of artists like Noa Mal wherein they’re getting a widespread reputation due to how many projects they can consistently release – think King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Viper, and the smattering of obscure electronic, folk, and black metal acts that have that artistic capacity to just brute force their way into a year with 3 or more projects done – looking into the local scene, there is no one like Noa Mal at this current moment. And despite carrying that sort of reputation might be interesting and outstanding to some, that can also be the kind of title that can get frustrating and lead to bigger expectations. Mostly because, with that brand of ‘quantity over quality’ release cycle being stretched over in the consecutive years, the worries surrounding sonic and thematic retreads; lack of surprises in the formula; and meager interest towards improvements across the board will come up more and can lead to going through that kind of discography to be daunting and may end up being less interesting when those boxes are ticked off. Now, after going through Noa Mal’s entire discography, the results can be a mixed blessing. While her brand of lo-fi grunge rock and slowcore comfort zone definitely mesh together easily – her gloomy topicality surrounding relationships and personal angst starts to get extremely thin due to her plain way of writing as well as persistent mixing and mastering issues that doesn’t allow the recordings to blend altogether – there are projects that do show her improving on the composition and production front. ‘Everything Is Science, Baby’ is a good starting point as it best represents Noa Mal’s sound across the board, which you can then follow up on her other 2022 released records like ‘My Corrupted Hard Drive’ that leans on the softer grunge and slowcore cuts and ‘Fear Fiction’ for some synth implementations that she’d eventually explore even further just this year with ‘Suspended Animation’. Going through with her tradition, ‘The Anatomy of Emotional Hijacking’ is her 3rd record that she released this 2023, just after the volume and banger heavy ‘Holy Hour’ and the synthetic drum and synth-inflected ‘Suspended Animation’. It continues to retain Noa Mal’s compositional strengths on the record, from the moody drenched ‘The Actress’ where Noa Mal’s prim vocal lines work well with the wavering guitar licks and percussion beats, the trudging indie rock of ‘Luci’ and ‘Deeply Tinted Glasses’ as the former staggers through due to the quicker flash of melodies alongside these carefree vocal lines and the latter coasts through grungier guitar lines that adds into the smoked out vibe of the track, the sunnier indie rock of ‘Dance For Me, Puppet!’ with the gliding vocal melodies amidst the stable fuzzy drums and brighter guitar lines, and the tempered acoustics of ‘Sepanx ka nanaman’ that brings an open space away from the numbness of the moment. As said before, with her writing surrounding numbing cycles of relationships and personal angst that has gotten stale that doesn’t give her a lot of favors at this point, the writing this time opens up Noa Mal’s writing scope as there are a couple of songs that provide more context towards the relationship that eventually fluctuates before it even started. The universal sorrow of ‘Luci’ that tackles the loss of everything and everyone as well as the social exhaustion of Noa Mal’s generation represented through Luci is an example of this that continues further with ‘Dance for me, Puppet!’ through the puppet metaphors as well as the glancing subtext of familial disappointment on certain tracks like ‘Intro: Hijacked’, ‘My Golden Town’, and ‘Sepanx Ka Nanaman’. These moments do add more to Noa Mal’s dulled-out relationship throughout the record like the tiring cycles of everyone showing her how to love on ‘The Actress’ which eventually colors how the numbness that she feels creates a different tone to the “love songs” of ‘The One Who Really…’ and ‘My Golden Town’. Songs may have this emotionally intimate tone to them, but given the context of social exhaustion from her peers and the personal dullness from all the cycling relationships, it’s now put into darker framing wherein Noa’s numbness has now bordered into irrationality, making the relationship an emotional hijacking that she eventually disposes away on ‘Sepanx Ka Nanaman’ and eventually succumbs to more layers of numbness that makes her feel free at the very end. Despite the strengths that Noa Mal has honed in on this record, the mixing of the record does get a bit uneven, more so the guitars and drums that do peak on the mix. While this issue does permeate on her 1st 2023 record, ‘Holy Hour’, it is at least consistent in terms of how loud it can be that does get compensated with punchy grunge melodies just flooding through and through, while ‘The Anatomy of Emotional Hijacking’ takes those grunge melodies with a sunny like flair that does need more balance on the mix. And despite her writing that does work a lot more in this record, it did stumble on ‘Angel of Romantic Death’ with the plainspoken metaphors that may show Noa Mal’s agency but just ends up being clunky as a result. But overall, ‘The Anatomy of Emotional Hijacking’ might not feel special in Noa Mal’s ever-growing discography at first glance even if the composition still does come off as developed, the writing and emotional throughline on the relationship Noa Mal is presenting here offers a different layer and side of her style and framing thus far. A lot more tangled and is paired with an extra set of context around it that does broaden Noa Mal’s skill as a writer given her plain style of writing hasn’t stuck out much in her past records. It’s very
TRACK REVIEW: FEIFEI – MINATO
Written by Louis Pelingen Back in June of this year, FEIFEI returned back in the scene with a three-track single called ‘YUM’ that included two pluggnb cuts and a Jersey Club remix of one of those songs courtesy of Showtime Official Club’s production. Those cuts, alongside the Jersey Club remix of ‘let her cook’ center a lot towards social media aesthetics on the romance and honing into the bubbling Jersey Club and UK Garage adjacent soundscape that has gotten really active this year, with ‘discord pag-ibig’ hones in on the discord slangs that are used for lovey-dovey interactions and the ‘let her cook’ jersey club remix from Showtime Official Club leaving a mark of interest for FEIFEI on her sound moving forward. Three months later, FEIFEI eventually embraced both the UK Garage dance-pop beat and the colorful internet-laden flirtations on ‘MINATO’, a combination of aesthetics that leads to a ridiculously sticky single put together really well due to the quicker percussions, buzzing and swirling cocoons of synths, and ridiculously catchy melodies from FEIFEI which wiggles around the beat yet still manages to be composed and tuneful all the same. All of those elements paired with the lovey-dovey romance that comes off as colorful and silly due to how it sprinkles a dash of delusion as well as the internet-driven flair on the writing end up overall endearing. Endearing in a way that’s gonna make you cheer for someone to get with their crush while also gently making fun of that person for the harmless delusion they’ve put upon themselves. Not that it is bad to be in those situations, of course, but FEIFEI sure knows how to make it look fun and honest all throughout. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: RONAN – INSOMNIA ft. Shuichi
Written by Louis Pelingen For those who are not aware, before his Kailan cover was put out, Raccoon Eyed Ronan debuted on SoundCloud with ‘INSOMNIA’, a mostly decent R&B cut that was underpowered due to the rough production and mixing & mastering elements. However, after the Kailan cover did get a lot of buzz around the indie circles – which has led to Raccoon Eyed Ronan now working under Twin Plaza Recordings – he eventually touched up this song with Shuichi helping along. And surprise to nobody, it’s essentially an improved version thanks to the hypnotic production with all of its psychedelic atmosphere from the synths and horns paired with the impeccable mastering allowing the course grooves to swell and then explode wondrously at the end. And for a song that’s about holding on to a relationship and asking with genuine care if there is a possibility of fixing said relationship, both Raccoon Eyed Ronan and Shuichi delivered exponentially where Ronan’s somber yet heartfelt vocals contrast well with Shuichi’s desperate expressiveness that works with how the instrumentation spills forth after his verse. There are a lot of welcome additions to this new version of ‘INSOMNIA’ that puts Raccoon Eyed Ronan as an artist to look forward to. Since now that he is under Twin Plaza Recordings, there is so much potential waiting to be seen here that it’s exciting to guess wherever he will go from here, especially with his brand of R&B that he can present with potent sincerity and layered melodic and production taste. For the time being, this track and the Kailan cover stand strong for what spark he’s yet to unleash, a spark that will keep us wide awake in the near future. SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST:
TRCK REVIEW: girlcharmm – infatuation
Written by Louis Pelingen The ongoing output of this dream pop sapphic band girlcharmm aims to deliver letters for the heartbroken group of sapphic lovers in the Philippines. Their second single, ‘infatuation’, is a letter for those who yearn for that desired love, only to unveil the heartbreak within as the process of recovering soon comes after. It’s a message that’s delivered with a direct and conflicting scope, where Darl Alba’s sweet vocals are surrounded by Anna Gella’s layers of fuzzy drum machines and layers of synths both blaring and floating as well as Kaya Katigbak’s chunky guitar riffs flooding in. There is intent in that hemmed-in production as the melodies keep rambling around the instrumentation in a free-flowing way – clearly purposeful in order to encapsulate that exhausting thought process of that sad realization that is way too sudden for a lot of sapphic individuals to eventually figure out on their own. As much as a lot of the elements from the melodies and the production clearly hit home what the track is going for, it also makes it tough to get back into due to the rambling motion of the melodies and the feverish fog of the production. It doesn’t take away from the track’s quality, however, as it never shies away from revealing how tiring the process of going through that bitter phase of infatuation is. Clearly, what’s important to take note of here is that girlcharmm delivers what needs to be delivered, embracing sapphic relationships in the local music scene that will resonate a lot with a sapphic audience that has their broken hearts still in healing. Support the art & the artist:
TRCK REVIEW: Edacity – comethru4u
Written by Louis Pelingen Edacity’s gradual shift towards hyperpop this year has lent him more potential for something to work with in the future. While the past cuts he pushed out in recent times still find him wading through the bubbly soundscape of hyperpop, ‘comethru4u’ puts his lovesick vibe splash through a flashy hook, glimmering synth notes swirling around buzzy beats, and Edacity’s vocal carrying a heartfelt delivery that works nicely within this short song. It ends on an upward slope, where the added blasting percussion and pitchy multitracking allow the overall tune to pop at the right moment. It’s a track that at least found a neat, but not incredible landing for Edacity going further into this sound as he works on his upcoming project. Where even Edacity delivers what he needs to do in order to make this brief song go off, thanks to the balanced mixing and the sweet atmosphere composed well; the hollow percussion textures and the sticky albeit dull melodies hold back the track from creating a bigger impact. The overall tune may create a nice splash, but with the curiosity to experiment and tweak his style, Edacity could make something that can stand out even more. Support the art & the artist:
TRACK REVIEW: Antemundane – A Throbbing Unbearable Thing
Written by Louis Pelingen Reality is often filled with environments and situations that are always changing and adapting, leading to crises that confuse and frustrate everyone. Antemundane, the solo project of Ivan Brosas from The Strangeness, steps into this lead single feeling the exhaustion of reality itself. A gentle slice of alt-country with nods to easy-listening vintage pop is a rather elusive one. Entering the scene with this bubbly, psychedelic synth before it tempers itself with these solemn synths, quaint piano progressions, and shuffling drum and bass groove helps carry Antemundane’s own tiring trudge about reality as he starts questioning his memory and his own existence alongside it. The pacing of the melody and how it weaves around the calming instrumentation is just right to allow the short, yet poetic songwriting to linger, especially when the track ends with the horns slipping through the forefront. It is a curious one, to say the least. While not exactly remarkable – where Antemundane’s delivery could’ve used a bit more flexibility on expressing this theme and the song overall feels like it opens up a lot of questions surrounding what the album will be about and might hit better in the context of the record – there is a lot to look forward here based on the minimal poetry and the gentle instrumentation that it presents. It may be a piece of a bigger puzzle for the time being, but it’s one where it’s intriguing to see where it opens up eventually. Support the art & the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: The Purest Blue – All is True
Written by Louis Pelingen The past we have left behind manifests through still memories that have comforted us through the paths of growing up. The small bike that was used to roam around the neighborhood, the color blue that reminds us of comfort puffing in the skies, the dollhouse that embraces the imagination of a child, and the gentle warmth that gathers when we see our parents and loved ones in front of us. And even when those moments pass through us, it doesn’t mean that there is no opportunity to find comfort in them when we do get older. For Pauline Rana and her musical project The Purest Blue, that sentiment is a truth that we need to remind ourselves all the time. In the aptly titled debut project, ‘All is True’, the smallest and tightest of packages bring a lot to the table. There is a lot of tenderness and sweetness on this very record, where the production from both Pauline Rana and Sobs & Subsonic Eye member Jared Lim allows a lot of the instrumental textures to be crisp and splashy, allowing the melodies to glisten and soar, and make that return of past memories with a deeper appreciation from our present selves to really hit home. The glinting waves of synths that opens up ‘Stationary Bike’ as it sweeps through the bustling acoustics and Pauline’s cooing vocals is quite the breezy ride to start the record, which then proceeds to simmering shoegaze on ‘Blackie’ with the crystalline hiss from the guitars, the percussive breakbeats of ‘The Truth is Blue’ and ‘Carnation Pink’ that gives a lot of energy from the buzzy synth, organ keys, and lo-fi acoustic run of the former track and the sunny pop tune of the latter track, the undulating atmospherics of ‘Small House’ with the layers of melodies brushing up to the end, and the rather straightforward dream-pop soundscape of ‘Tenderness and Purity’ with the driving bass lines, soothing vocal melodies, and shuffling drums just before the soundscape breathes and moves close to the front of the mix. The only hiccup this record has is the synthetic warble of ‘That’s Us’, where even if it does fit with what the song is going for due to the swaying details of time, the synthetic vocal production doesn’t really mesh that well with the dreamy melodies and instrumentation. While this record takes that saccharine quality burst for the bright moments to shine, it doesn’t shy away from going through the grief that Pauline feels as she returns back to those memories, especially the ones that involve her past self and her father. She rolls through that grief on ‘Blackie’ and ‘The Truth is Blue’, where despite trying to find a sense of comfort on the opening track, she finds herself feeling a sting thinking through the loss she felt from past memories, overall making her feel blue, a color signified for sadness and loneliness. But that color also stands for comfort as well. In ‘Small House’ and onwards, those memories of the people and pets that she really missed from her childhood are still there with her, teaching her how to love herself and find the comfort she needs in her present self. To realize that what we feel like is missing is there somewhere in past memories, acting as truths that validate a positivity that we have to keep on providing not just to ourselves, but to everyone that we always meet and interact with. Overall, ‘All is True’ is a reflective record where the splashy quality not only resides with the colorful production and melodies from Pauline Rana and Jared Lim on the array of prismatic dream pop, alternative pop, and shoegaze, but also with the sense of finding one’s own joy from returning to the transitory space of memories even if having to find that joy also means simmering through the sadness that shakes us before. If you ever find yourself feeling like something is amiss within yourself, don’t be afraid to open the door of a past space, you might find the truth you’ll need to move forward. Support the art & the artist: