(Photos courtesy of SRM Records)

Folk band Ballads of the Cliché never really got its due. Formed in the early 2000s, during the country’s biggest independent music boom, the band’s brand of hummable folk pop gained a modest number of fans, but the quintet itself never secured momentum past its first few self-released EPs. Personal activities and familial responsibilities simply took over.

Now, seven years after its first record, and more than 10 years since its debut EP release, the Jakarta-based group returns with Paintings, a long-gestating follow up that aims to kickstart the band’s return onto the scene with a more conceptual set of songs, each seemingly intent on being some sort of indie pop anthem.

“Why did it take such a long time for us to release this record?,” asks vocalist Bobby Alvianto, repeating the question he’s asked. “I guess it had to with priority. Because all of the members of Ballads have other priorities that aren’t music-related, which in essence requires much more time than what we have caring for our family and trying to make ends meet. That’s not even counting the hours you have to sacrifice when you play shows.”

Members of the band are mostly part-time musicians, who decided to take up instruments and play music just to balance their lives. They just love music so much and it has become inseparable parts of their lives. But their love for music aside, some members decided to leave the band and got on with their lives.

Bass player Dimas Ario left the band in 2012 after nine years. Keyboard player Ninantika Trimurti also quit soon after, leaving it as a five-some, which would make the creative process more difficult.

It took them four years to produce their 2011 single “Ini Waktunya” (It’s Time), their first in Bahasa Indonesia.

The creative process for the latest record is also long and arduous, interrupted by other things unrelated to music.

Last year, members of the band took a trip deep into the jungle of West Kalimantan, joining activists from the environmental group Greenpeace, to get a firsthand look at the forest fire that was raging in the area.

“We felt like we were in vacuum for too long and that it was time to finish what we started,” said the band’s acoustic guitar player Kurniawan Bambang.

“We have been recording since 2009,” adds Bobby, “and we were always talking about how we wanted to finish this album. We had to keep our word.”

Paintings, self-released by the band, doesn’t find Ballads treading far beyond their characteristic sound; Jangly, acoustic guitars meets wistful melodies, lying down beside a bed of 1960s sunshine pop. It’s all very welcoming, like Ballads’ music has always been. The only notable difference is how tighter the band and the production sounds, punching up the dynamics and letting instruments breathe between mellow and cheery verses. The nonchalant joyfulness encapsulates the group’s as-it-comes disposition towards the popularity of their music.

“There aren’t really any particular message we’re trying to convey with the record. No special messages. It works more as evidence for ourselves — to let us know that we can still do this together. It’s a hobby and if someone is able to enjoy it, that’s great for us,” explains Bobby, adding jokingly that “our musical skills have remained pretty much the same.”

COLORFUL KIND

Kurniawan is quick to add that the album also features songwriting from all the band members, accounting for its more “colorful” nature. This is another practical reason the record was dubbed Paintings, for its vibrancy.

Pressed further, Bobby says that the songs have taken a “We/Them” perspective instead of the “I’s” that permeated their earlier records as single young men. Their egos, too, are now kept in place, and the result is a better band dynamics and sense of belonging.

“Our first record we made when we were in our 20s,” says Kurniawan, “and this one finds us in our 30s, with almost all of us already family men.”

The songs hold their own meanings to each band member, with Bobby calling the hopping “Fur Fairy” his favorite (“It’s my wife’s digital-world nickname, and I wrote in an hour or two”), Kurniawan saying that all of his songs were inspired by a particular woman, and guitarist Frederick Rheinhard pointing out that “A Letter to My Friend” is a humorously bitter letter written to their former band manager.

“I also like ‘Home’, which I wrote when I was single and released when I was already married,” Frederick laughs.

For the band, there are no goals beyond creating something together as friends. If it goes somewhere bigger, that would be great, but the members aren’t about to reshape their lives for musical ambition.

Frederick sums it up, “There’s no special goals. We just want to keep playing and create.”

Discography

2016

2007

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