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Senar Gitar: Ready for another pluck
Courtesy of Senar Gitar and Basement MusicAfter spending a good amount of his younger years playing guitar as part of some of Indonesia's most heralded musical acts, Reynold âPnyotâ is ready for the limelight
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Courtesy of Senar Gitar and Basement Music
After spending a good amount of his younger years playing guitar as part of some of Indonesia's most heralded musical acts, Reynold 'Pnyot' is ready for the limelight.
With his deep love for blues-based rock 'n' roll ' the kind that sounds tailor-made for tipsy nights in bars, Pnyot has reinvented himself as the cofounder of Senar Gitar, a brand new musical duo that Pnyot formed with the equally intriguingly named guitarist AdeApe (a play on the Indonesian term for 'What's going on?').
Pnyot, whose rap-like nickname is pronounced 'pain-yot', has a lot more going for his band than quirky monikers and blues-tainted licks.
Senar Gitar, whose name translates as Guitar Strings, represents the next step for the talented musician after his experience as the erstwhile guitarist for Slank ' arguably one of the country's biggest bands and spokesmen for the disenfranchised.
Pnyot's resume does not stop there; he was also a major part of Cozy Republic, certainly one of the most successful local bands to specialize in reggae music.
Cozy Republic's penchant for straightforward melodies and populist arrangements has appeared heavily in Senar Gitar's music as has Slank's crowd-pleasing pop-rock. Their newly released debut ''Journey Through'' Life through Basement Music has found the duo offering up a healthy dose of Indonesian pop.
On songs like the acoustic ballad 'Pasangan Abadi' (Eternal Couple), Pnyot and AdeApe go for the heart with radio-friendly melodies and forlorn lyricism, while 'LDR' (short for 'Long Distance Relationship') amps it up with studio-perfect harmonies, breezy guitar strumming and bluesy leads that follow each line of vocals. In particular, lyrics that translate as '[I] can only look at your photograph' and 'I want to go back to when you were still in my arms' reach for the masses.
Even on the few tracks during which Pnyot and AdeApe decided to step on their overdrive guitar pedals, they still ensured the masses had something to identify with. In the lyrics of 'Cuma Ada Satu' (There is Only One), Pnyot captured the role of a man wooing a lady with the promise of his fidelity.
The duo even found time to cover Slank's 'Lorong Hitam' (Black Tunnel), an older track meant to celebrate Pnyot's admittedly short days as a guitar player with Slank.
Senar Gitar relied heavily on Pnyot's Slank-association, having enlisted three current members and former members of the band on their eight-track album 'Journey', and pushing 'Lorong Hitam' as the first single.
'We wanted to form a musical group in which we could actively interact with fans and other musicians. Truly, [we] just missed playing in a band and performing shows from city to city,' explained Pnyot, who also cited his role in producing other bands' records 'something he did between his days with Slank and Cozy Republic ' as something he was no longer getting a kick out of.
'We were bored of recording other bands' records,' he laughed, 'and so we wanted to perform in front of crowds like we used to.'
AdeApe concurred, and added that, as a duo, they wanted to approach their new project without any preconceived artistic notions.
Both musicians didn't want to be tied down to any particular genre, and have instead tied a variety of genres together with their penchant for playful blues licks.
'We processed and produced this music all by ourselves, and did it with an approach that was unadorned and free from any specific genres. With both of our backgrounds, we just let the music flow out of us organically,' explains AdeApe. 'If what came was mellow rock 'n' roll or pop, then we simply let the songs flow as they did.'
Pressed to explain whether the album Journey speaks of specific themes, AdeApe explained that he and Pnyot wanted to encourage 'a passion in the arts and music creation, seeing life as a playground and using every experience as a source of energy'.
'Those are the things that motivate us to write songs and play music,' added AdeApe.
Senar Gitar will launch its debut album on Aug. 25 at Pondok Pesantren Daarul Quran, where they hope to entertain the missionaries and religious tutors there.
The duo says they are committed to giving a portion of the sales to the pesantren's community.
Senar Gitar will then go on a promotional tour that they have dubbed 'Everyone Can Be a Rockstar', which ' aside from the regular show ' will feature something of a talent search, American Idol-style, where the band will publicly audition prospective bass and drum players who would go on to play with them.
Pnyot concluded, 'Our mission is really to show how AdeApe and I are committed to music, and how we want to sustain our existence within Indonesia's music scene'.
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Journey Through Life (Basement Music) is out now through iTunes and in record stores.
