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Morscode brings back college rock
Morscode takes the term “college rock” to heart in its debut EP, which is all about the university-day blues of vocalist-guitarist Hendy Yudhistira.
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On stage: Morscode performs at Padjajaran University in Bandung. (Morscode Facebook Page/File)
W
ith a case of reverse homesickness, Agam started writing tracks about the sadness he felt after returning home from studying abroad.
Noisy and melodious, Morscode’s songs refer to the heyday of 1990s alternative rock with a dash of modern-day reverb-layered production.
Formed from the ashes of the pop-punk band Army of Antartic, the band formed in 2015 and began releasing singles online. Their plans to record a debut full-length had to be put on hold when Hendy moved out of the country for his studies. With his return, Morscode hopes to rev up their engines once again.
Morscode’s as-yet-untitled debut EP will be released via Jakarta-based indie label Leeds Records and is preceded by the single “Calm Down.”
“This single marks the comeback of Morscode after a year of absence from the scene. Our ultimate style and genre has stayed the same throughout, and no big changes have been made. However, this song was purely produced by our band, with some help from our close friend, Haryo Widi,” Hendy said.
“So from a sound perspective, it is quite different from our previous releases.”
He added that the single is a better and more accurate representation of the “Morscode sound” than the band’s older songs.
The EP will also contain three original songs and two bonus tracks.
“We are still keeping them [the bonus tracks] as a secret,” Hendy said.
Bandmate and co-vocalist-guitarist Adhiwira “Agam” Gautama described the material as sounding similar to “Calm Down,” but bore different colors of music that still represent Morscode’s characters.
The digital cover for “Calm Down” features chairs, which the band said represent the single’s content.
“Since the name of our latest single is ‘Calm Down’ and it focuses on the theme of ‘waiting, we wanted to symbolize it with chairs. Waiting can be done in many forms, but we wanted to represent waiting as a more calming [and] relaxing activity. Hence, we used chairs,” Agam explained.
The band also chose to release an EP instead of a full-length album for the sake of efficiency, pointing to the distraction of their “corporate lives.”
“We think that by releasing singles and Eps, we can offer new materials more quickly. It’s a good way to attract a pool of early listeners and hear their thoughts about our music. It’s better than releasing a full-length as an unknown band and failing badly,” Hendy said.
Agam concurs, adding that, “Maybe next year, we will talk about a full album, because we are still waiting for one of our band member to finish his master’s degree overseas.”
Having played together since high school, Hendy and Agam have been the key elements of Morscode. The progression of their sound is something they consider natural.
“We started off playing together in our junior high school band. We did Blink-182 covers like many other high school bands did and eventually started making our own punk-rock songs. We played in that band for a few years,” Hendy said.
After the two moved from high school to university, the band went on a hiatus.
“Four years later in 2014, Hendy returned home and we decided to make new music. Perhaps, due to our exposure to different types of music in that four-year timeframe, the resulting material turned out to be quite different. That’s how Morscode started,” Agam said.
Hendy and Agam agreed that the band’s strength comes from their different musical influences, which grew as they both got older.
“For musical references, as individuals, we all listen to different genres of music. Because we have played together for such a long time, our chemistry is quite solid and we know the goals in terms of where we want this band to go. Morscode’s genre alone is a combination of the various genres each member listens to,” Hendy explained.
Agam is certain that Indonesians listeners will be able to enjoy the band’s sound, even if it’s not the usual brand of mainstream pop that is popular in the country.
“These days, Indonesians are open to various music genres. Nowadays, any band that brings something fresh will have a chance with listeners. I see this as an opportunity to be as creative as possible,” Hendy said.
