The friendship and bond between the British label Sprechen and the exciting musical minds from Jakarta continue to grow! What started as an initial and casual meeting via the internet has resulted in a studio project, collaborative club nights, live performance events and label releases. This compilation is a showcase of some of the artists that label boss Chris Massey caught in his last trip to Jakarta. “There was so much familiarity to what I heard with my influences being clear, yet everyone still had a huge amount of their own uniqueness in what they were doing which made for such an exciting experience!”, he said.
The track we chose to premiere is a beautiful indie rock masterpiece by Gizpel. The band has been a perpetual changing format group and that now consists of Fadillah Ananto (vocals/bass), Dika Raka Prayuga (synth/backing vocals), Joshua Emmanuel (guitar) and Hasan Asisi (synth). This track was self-recorded and produced in their own home studio, with help on mixing and mastering made by Raoul Dikka, who also plays music under the moniker Low Pink.
“For this particular track, we were quite surprised when we found out we could sound like this. We were actually experimenting to come with a new sound, it came up with a tighter bpm than our previous tracks. A lot more distorted, dragged, lengthy guitar solo, rather than slow, reverbed fill-in”, said the lads. “‘Eyes On The Street’ was made during our session and rehearsal to open for Wild Nothing’s show in Jakarta. That was clearly a vivid, starry night when we wrote the lyrics. And to be sure, we were all just on recovery stages, on how being a decent person in a rush of our political year a while back”, they added.
“The title itself comes from the concept coined by Jane Jacobs (“there must be eyes upon the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street”). Whilst the people of our own was urged to reclaim the street, joining the strike against the regime, on their last reign to condemn any policy issued to perpetuate their mischievous rule”, they said. “The narration might not come along together, but it’s all about how we adjust feelings through songs, although our songs might be our best coping mechanism to put our personal ego away by now, so far. The skies are clearer now, but clouds might come again anytime soon. We believe, always believe, noises are symbols of how the machine works. So does the country”, they completed.
And we have the lyrics, just in case you want to sing along:
Could you see a sparks arised
Underneath the pavement’s light
There you know it’s now alive
What we believe to be our right
That bird perched on thigh
It’s been there a long time ago
Benches now all occupied
Where people were passing by
Perks are for who wait and stay
Praises for all things, it’s paid
Things are bound to happen better
We wish not just now
You can find (and buy) this and other music pearls on the Bandcamp page of the label.