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Album Review: 'No Future' by Rusa Militan

Let’s hope that Rusa Militan are here to stay.

Stanley Widianto (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, July 14, 2017

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Album Review: 'No Future' by Rusa Militan ‘No Future’ by Rusa Militan (Rusa Militan/File)

T

he first four songs of No Future, the debut album by Bandung-based folk-rock band Rusa Militan, conjure up ghosts of the past who once went by the name of, say, The Guess Who, Pentangle, The Band or Jefferson Airplane.

There’s no doubt these ghosts of psychedelic-tinged folk rock music —propelled by hazy vocals, guitar and generally inscrutable lyrics — were themselves once influenced by others, but time and further appraisals have switched their roles. They created a template for Rusa Militan — consisting of Mario (vocals/guitar), Fery (accordion, violin), Kentung (vocals/guitar), Ucok (bass), Swi (drums) and Aki (keyboard) — to push their own limits and capabilities.

What came out of this headspace was a good, though not entirely realized record of eight songs, ranging from folk to psychedelic rock.

The first four songs on this record are some exciting stuff for sure, like the five-minute second track “Black Sun.” Hazy vocals are stacked on top of a gliding bassline and dueling guitars, acoustic and electric. After an exercise in slow-burning psychedelia, the song is interrupted by an acoustic break before adding more grit for its satisfying coda.

The exercise continues with “Matsuo North,” a two-minute spacey instrumental. Then a collage of samples opens “Monologues 1980,” the record’s most adventurous and fully-realized cut.

Running through the list of indie-pop, psychedelia and folk influences, “Monologues 1980” is the distillation of the previous three songs, but this time, a crowd is considered. The song reminds me of Woods, the indie folk band from the States, who, with their deft hands, utilize length to exhaust their arsenal — longer songs boast weird key-changes, shorter songs are concise and hard-hitting. On this song, you’ll hear handclaps and wistful vocals.

But then No Future hits a rut that it doesn’t recover from until its last track. “Lord Machine” and “Into the Past” are forgettable instrumentals (though the latter has a good, Fleet Foxes-style vocal harmony at the end of it). By then, the guitar/synth combo is a well-trodden territory.

“Senandung Senja” (An Afternoon Song) is a sweet, bubblegum folk song. As a standalone song, it works: The lyrics are simple and the music is pleasant. But as a member of No Future’s track list, it interrupts the focused sound of the record, making it no more than a throwaway cut.

Generally, the vocals on this record are caked by effects and layers that make the lyrics difficult to discern on a first listen; a lyrics-sheet needs to be consulted. “Tinggal kisah/yang tergores dan terujar di akal ku/cukup kah lembaran cerita merekam kasih itu” [just a story/etched and told in my mind/is this story enough to preserve that love], goes a lyric in “Senandung Senja.” Then there’s a fable of a deer and a lion on the satisfying closer “Rusa Dan Singa,” bringing together the band’s focused idea for No Future.

You know what, “focused idea” sounds about right. The only drawback of this record is its scattered execution, as if the record was robbed of new ideas, particularly throughout the second part of it.

But still, as a debut record, it is something that’s worth your time. Contemporary folk music in Indonesia has welcomed a new name. Let’s hope that Rusa Militan are here to stay.

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