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Efek Rumah Kaca's: Grand Sinestesia
Light play: Colorful lights projected onto a white room installation, created by artist Irwan Ahmett for the Sinestesia concert in Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-center">Light play: Colorful lights projected onto a white room installation, created by artist Irwan Ahmett for the Sinestesia concert in Jakarta.
After a seven year hiatus, popular indie band Efek Rumah Kaca have returned to the scene, releasing their latest album, Sinestesia and wowing fans, once again, with a concert in the capital that turned out to be a most gratifying return indeed.
Formed in 2001, Efek Rumah Kaca comprises of vocalist and guitarist Cholil Mahmud, Adrian Yunan Faisal on bass and Akbar Bagus Sudibyo on drums.
Their Sinestesia concert, held at Teater Jakarta at Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta on Jan. 13, successfully transported fans into the past, to several different periods of the band's musical journey, before enticing the audience back to the present with their new song list.
The velvet curtain was raised, revealing a stage transformed into a white room where the band members, who donned white and gray outfits, performed for 2.5 hours.
The concert was divided into two sessions: the first was aset aside for songs taken from their previous albums, Efek Rumah Kaca and Kamar Gelap (Dark Room); the second, songs from their new album.
As the room installation turned blue, the band opened the concert with 'Tubuhmu Membiru Tragis' (Your Body Turns A Tragic Blue).
Artist Irwan Ahmett was responsible for creating the blue stage effect and other visual effects throughout the course of the evening.
The band rocked the concert hall, continuing their performance with 'Mosi Tidak Percaya' (Motion of No Confidence), before Cholil greeted the crowd.
'Thank you for being here. We're actually very nervous because we didn't prepare long enough, but I hope we can enjoy the music together,' he said.
In the next song, 'Cinta Melulu' (Incessant Love), Cholil let the crowd take over when concert goers, overwhelming his voice, cried out the song lyrics from beginning to the end.
After a series of up tempo songs, the band toned down the mood, performing 'Melankolia' (Melancholy). The drum beat combined with the stage visual effects were hypnotizing, transporting the crowd into a state of trance as the vocals talked of bitterness.
Before the band performed their ninth song, Adrian came to the front of the stage with the help of the keyboardist, generating loud screams and applause from the floor.
'I feel like this is my first concert. This is a happy night for me and I hope it is for you too,' Adrian said.
Adrian was diagnosed with Behçet disease, resulting in the declining condition of his eyes and forcing him to leave music. His position on stage has been replaced by Poppie Airil.
The band heated up the night as they continued belting out their best tracks, including 'Jangan Bakar Buku' (Don't Burn Books), 'Laki-laki Pemalu' (Shy Guy), 'Hujan Jangan Marah' (Rain Don't be Mad), and 'Sebelah Mata' (Beside The Eye).
The band performed a total of 13 songs in the first part of the evening accompanied by a mini orchestra led by Alvin Witarsa.
After a 15-minute break, the band returned to the stage with the track 'Merah' (Red), featuring bassist Ricky Virgana of White Shoes & The Couples Company who played cello.
Unlike their previous two albums, Sinestesia only consists of six songs, all rather long in duration ' the shortest one is eight minutes long and the longest is 13 minutes.
'We're playing long songs on this album because we want to do something different. We're greatly inspired by progressive rock from the 1970s, but we don't really describe our music as progressive rock,' Cholil said.
The second track in the album and the second song to be played in the second half of the concert, 'Biru' is a combination of two singles, 'Pasar Bisa Diciptakan' (Markets Can Be Created) and 'Cipta Bisa Dipasarkan' (Creations Can Be Marketed).
The band continued to perform songs in the same order as they appear in the new album, 'Jingga' (Orange), 'Hijau' (Green), 'Putih' (White) and 'Kuning' (Yellow).
The light projected into the room installation changed to match each of the titles, with the display of some other effects, such as clouds, that made the show more dramatic.
The band said that the concert was the first time that the band had played the whole album altogether'their first in a long while and also their last as they plan to have another break.
Their sound was strong and flawless, the stage setting and visual effects were engaging and the chemistry between the crowd and the band members was epic.
As the clock approached 11 p.m., the band sang the Dayak folk song 'Leleng', clapping their hands and stamping feet until the curtain finally came down on the evening.
' Photos courtesy of Sinestesia Concert Documentation Team
