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By
Angelique P. Manalad, Contributor
After 72 gigs, two number one singles and two music videos later,
super band Archipelago finally launches its debut long-playing album
Travel Advisory.
Composed
of 14 songs, the CD talks about different kind of weather-the kind
of musical storm dauntless music lovers welcome as a fresh breeze.
An
amalgam of several highly acclaimed bands-Yan Yuzon and Wendell
Garcia from Pupil; Chad Rialp from Liquid Jane and Tempestuous Jone
and Pat Tirano from TOI and Monkeyspank-Archipelago fuses grunge,
trip-hop, alternative and blues rock genres. Between them, the band
members possess enough musical virtuosity and song writing
creativity to launch more than a dozen chart toppers and rock
classics. That’s exactly what they are poised to do with Travel
Advisory.
Archipelago
has been thrice nominated in the 2009 Asia Voice Independent Music
Awards based in Malaysia. Their first single ÒMRIÓ is nominated
for Best Rock Song and Best Moody-Melancholic Masterpiece, while its
video became nominated for Most Mind-Blowing Music Video.
Most
of the tracks in the album are positively infectious and guarantee a
case of LSS (last song syndrome). The opening track and current
single “Black Box” premiered not only in Manila but also on Hot
100.7 FM in Athens, Georgia and United States on September 1. It
features an intricate musical arrangement that compliments Yuzon’s
throaty vocals.
ÒMay1,”
the second single of the album, has already reached the top place in
local charts. The song talks about different scenarios that unfold
in life. “Sa bawat oras mo’y may himala [With one’s every
hour, a miracle],” it proclaims. And that’s not they have to
preach. The track “Lumapit,” which sounds like the Creator
talking one-on-one with listeners, is what Yuzon calls a “gospel
song.”
The
title track “Travel Advisory,” a song which most of the band
members co-written, delivers a message to the rest of the world.
“it’s a political message to the governments of the first world
countries that issue travel warnings to their citizens against
traveling to the Philippines whereas they base such warnings on
stuff that goes in a small part of our country and shouldn’t be
taken as the overall state of how the country is as a whole,”
Yuzon shared.
Songs
written by Rialp-“Engine Breaker” and “One of Three” scream
testosterone overload as the former takes you for a ride in the fast
lane while the latter is a narrative about a rock star’s lifestyle
involving sex, drugs and money.
Gaan
explores a vein of irony with “What You Want.” It paints a
frightening scenario of the consequences of some things that we
desire. In the song “Eternal,” haunting vocals and guitar
strumming blend to deliver a smooth hypnotic piece.
Travel Advisory delivers an exhilarating musical
journey that assures rockers arrive in better shape.
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