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Album Review: 'Geography' by Bedchamber
This is a confident record filled with beautiful moments that reveal themselves without too much fanfare.
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'Geography' by Bedchamber (Bedchamber/File)
O
n their second album, Jakarta-based dream-poppers Bedchamber stepup their songwriting without veering too far off from their established sound. This is a confident record filled with beautiful moments that reveal themselves without too much fanfare.
Vocalist Ratta Bill Abaggi says he and his band do not like anything that is too straightforward and that they are driven by a sense of being in a world of their own.
“We feel that in music like this [...] there’s an alienation that intrigues us as it speaks in a very personal world, musically and lyrically. We like the fact that we’re able to set the guitar volume even louder than the vocal tone, which we are aware might blur the lyrics, but on the other hand it gives a strong statement of the musical direction we’re going in,” adds Ratta.
“We also like how in indie pop, once played live, everyone will dance and mosh to punk or pop music without caring.”
Sounding just as aquatic as ever, Geography continues the band’s fascination with blanketing everything in dreamy reverb and pulsating delays.
Cynics may (and have) taken to calling the band out as being a little too inspired by the 1980s worshipping sounds coming out of the American underground post-2010, but there is something about the band’s decision to not react to these assumptions.
The songs here are as rocking and reverb-ing as you would expect, and they sound as US indie as you would expect, but they never sound put-on, bouncing off with enthusiasm and a good dose of earnestness.
This makes it sound like Geography is an utter repeat of its predecessor, which is not fair. The record may not be a gigantic sonic leap, but the band members — vocalist-guitarist Ratta, guitarist Abi Chalabi, bass player Smita Kirana and skin-thumper Ariel Kaspar — engage in a good amount of musical explorations.
The explorations include the use of off-kilter rhythms and newer instruments like piano and keyboards. The overall reliance on up-tempo tracks also kick things up, making this a punchier experience than its moody predecessor.
The band is clearly trying to push its own artistry. A result of them taking a step back and examining their previous releases, says Ratta.
There is also a subtle progress in the production too. Crisper and with more clarity, everything is easier to absorb, with the melodies and instruments settling in clearly. In fact, the album’s best moments come during its rockier moments, when the bass chrome cuts through everything and the guitar leans as much on crisp-distortions as it does the delay pedal.
Tracks like “Ride” is almost pseudo-grunge in the way it takes the band’s underlying prettiness and obliterates it with semi-dissonant chaos. Opener “Falter” is similar but with more reliance on those trebly quasi-surf single notes guitar plucking and less chaos, as is “Out Of Line” — a shoegazer-y crunch-pop with sweet harmonies that offers up some of the best overdriven guitars on the album.
Even the repeated-piano motive that drives the title track leads into swift-and-catchy bursts of overdriven guitars.
That use of the piano is, as mentioned, one of the record’s newer elements. As is the backwards-pattern drums of “Swells”, which turns a typical dream-pop track into something a little more unnerving.
All of these new elements work well because they never sound forced, arranged onto tracks organically without shouting “experiments!”
“We want the idea of our music to not only be obvious through our guitar playing, or vocals, but to be in our whole musical sensibilities. In terms of production, we worked with two of the best music engineers we know, Haryo Widi and Erwin Hendarta,” Ratta says.
It all also fall in nicely because of the basic shift Geography makes from the debut; the songs are simply stronger. Hooks abound, with strong verses followed up by instantly memorable choruses.
Where some of the debut’s track feels like they’re trying to locate the hooks amid layers of echoing guitars, the songs here would work well played simply on an acoustic guitar (ironically, the acoustic guitar-led “Waters” is the record’s draggiest moment in its grungy sensitivity).
It all ends wonderfully with “Natural”, which is very typical of the band’s sound but features heartrending chord changes that would feel as gorgeous instrumentally as it does in its finished form.
A record of subtle victory, Geography is a treat from front to back. Sure, there is nothing here modern (indie) rock fans may not have heard before, but turns out there are still a lot surprises left up their 1980s worship sleeves, and Bedchamber has put some of them to good use.
“Lyrically, we’re still singing about our personal issues and what is happenings around us. Because no matter how normal our lives might be, there should be something interesting to sing about, at least something that listeners can relate to,” Ratta concludes.
