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AlbumREVIEW: 'Yang Patah Tumbuh, Yang Hilang Berganti' by Banda Neira
On the title track of the second album of Bandung-based folk duo Banda Neira entitled Yang Patah Tumbuh, Yang Hilang Berganti (The Broken Will Heal, The Lost Will be Replaced), vocalist Rara Sekar and guitarist/vocalist Ananda Badudu sing, âYang sia-sia akan jadi makna / yang terus berulang suatu saat hentiâ (one thatâs useless will be meaningful, one that repeats will stop)
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On the title track of the second album of Bandung-based folk duo Banda Neira entitled Yang Patah Tumbuh, Yang Hilang Berganti (The Broken Will Heal, The Lost Will be Replaced), vocalist Rara Sekar and guitarist/vocalist Ananda Badudu sing, 'Yang sia-sia akan jadi makna / yang terus berulang suatu saat henti' (one that's useless will be meaningful, one that repeats will stop).
Ending the album, the song is an optimistic note to go out on for a record that's not exactly full of them.
Yang Patah Tumbuh, a 15-track record with an average track length of five to seven minutes, sounds like a really huge record that should be applauded for its sheer ambitiousness in combining multi-faceted folk music (with strings and trumpet, no less) with guileless, poetic lyrics.
Yang Patah Tumbuh can be split into two halves: happy and sad. Sequenced neatly, both of these moods correspond with the music itself. For instance, the happier side A, beginning with the track 'Matahari Pagi' (Morning Sun), 'Utarakan,' (Say It), 'Sebagai Kawan' (As a Friend) until 'Biru' (Blue) are garden variety of the folk pop that Banda Neira are most famous for.
Sounds boring and trite? Not so. Yang Patah Tumbuh excels at peppering these simple songs with added instrumentation like string-arrangement (courtesy of cellist Jeremia Kimosabe) that starts 'Pangeran Kecil,' piano in 'Pelukis Langit' (Sky Painter) and trumpet in 'Bunga' (Flower).
Over minimal guitar, Ananda's fronted song 'Utarakan' (Say It) embodies side A's optimistic ethos with lyrics such as 'walau tak semua tanya datang beserta jawab / dan semua harap terpenuhi / ketika bicara juga sesulit diam / utarakan, utarakan, utarakan' (even if all questions go unanswered, all hopes dashed / and if talking is as hard as silence, just say it, just say it, just say it). There's a big commitment to emotional impact on this album that I didn't think existed in Banda Neira's work.
Speaking of commitment, let's now turn over to side B. This one is after your gut and the music follows suit: sparse, hazy guitar-playing, mid-tempo piano and careful strings; the subtle quietness of a good night's sleep.
Listen to 'Langit & Laut' (Sky and Ocean) and its following reprise track 'Re: Langit & Laut'' minimal guitar played over Rara's vocals. 'Mewangi' (Perfume), which starts with Rara's gorgeous multi-tracked vocals, dials down as the song progresses into guitar-backed vocals before they fade out into a deafening silence.
Along with singing into the dark Chairil Anwar poem 'Derai-derai Cemara' (Array of Pine Trees), 'Bunga' (Flower) also highlights side B's gut-punching sadness. 'Tak semua yang kita tanam kita tuai bersama' (Not everything that we plant we'll reap together) sings Rara in 'Bunga'.
Ananda and Rara's vocals are the highlight of this record. Their vocals bleed into the music, perfectly fit in the mold of the songs. 'Tini & Yanti' is an obvious outing for Rara's operatic, vibrating vocals. It's impressive.
And finally: The title track. As Banda Neira's best song in their entire career, it's the careening marriage of everything on the album; from the happy-sad lyrics, the instrumentation and, of course, Ananda and Rara.
Yang Patah Tumbuh is an all-around great record because it demands that you listen, through thick or thin, happy or sad.
' Stanley Widianto
