REVIEW: Bamboo reclaims his ‘joy’ in solo debut
After stints with two buzz bands in two separate decades—Rivermaya in the 90s and the band Bamboo in 00s—Pinoy rock frontman Bamboo reclaims his Mañalac surname to his nom de rock and unloads a debut album that's fresh, unusual and expansive.
Entitled "No Water, No Moon," a Japanese koan that refers to sudden enlightenment, Bamboo takes his inner singer-songwriter out front in 12 songs marked by strings, piano and in a few instances, a gospel chorus.
This is not to suggest that "No Water, No Moon" is Bamboo's cold turkey comedown after the volume of his rocking years. What's likelier is that he has resumed probing the same sound that inspired him to be a musician, this time on more expressive terms without forsaking on his original ambition.
A 'film score' of an album
Bamboo has said that he was a film student in the U.S. during the break between Rivermaya and his namesake group. Along with the daily dose of American pop and rock, his exposure to soundtrack music came naturally.
That big screen romp in 3D shows up a lot in the course of his debut album. Compared to his previous efforts, his music now approaches the genre-straddling escapade of a film score.
Opening track "In Shadow" starts on an acoustic country lilt then blooms in full, buttressed by billowing atmospherics. Next track "Please" moves in as a plain ballad but soon blossoms into an extravagant mid-60s pop tune a la "Windmills of Your Mind." "Morning Rose" is reminiscent of Babyshambles' "French Dog Blues" in waltz time with sun-kissed strings and jaunty keyboards. Elsewhere, "In This Life" features Sunday gospel-like testifying, with an ecstatic slide to its coda.
Bamboo relearns 'a lot of stuff'
Bamboo says he wanted the chemistry between the players to come off as if they've been playing as a band for years. His in-studio cohorts—guitarist Kakoy Legaspi, drummer Jun Jun Regalado, bassists Bong Gonzales and Simon Tan and keyboardist Ria Osorio—delivered as much on the basis of the musical scope and breadth of the album.
Describing his present adventure as "a restart," Bamboo says, "The whole process (of producing the album) from start to finish was different from all the years I've been doing this. It was just great to relearn a lot of the stuff and get the joy back again."
You'd also be happily surprised by the fresh sounds from this old rocking hand.
