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Stereodeal reimagines a brave new world in ‘Singularity’
It took Stereodeal six years to get their debut album “Singularity” out—or as long as the band has been in existence.
Formed in mid-2008 so the members could make the kind of music they liked—from post punk to jazz—Stereodeal is composed of founding members Dax Gonzaga on bass and Adrian Arcega on vocals and guitar. Adrian is also a Yahoo music blogger. They’re joined by Marie De Guzman on drums and Dax Balmeo (also of dance-rock combo Paranoid City) on guitars.
The themes on the album are about love, longing, personal empowerment and lust. A closer listen reveals that a few tracks have their own unique twist on the typical rock narratives.
Geeking out
“I’m big fan of comic books and sci-fi and space-time continuum premises and all that stuff. The last track, ‘Hypertime’ is about romance in a parallel universe. Like, you belonging to someone else when the right one comes along in this universe but your love connection may be actually happening in another dimension, in a parallel universe, who knows?” explains Adrian, who also runs the online store Geekerie Shirts with his girlfriend.
“There’s an industrial beat to the song so there’s also technology involved besides the sci-fi angle.”
The album title itself refers to modern theories suggested by the new physics, Adrian explains. He says that "singularity" is that small dense point where everything is possible and everything is happening at the same time.
Major influences
It makes for a nice reference platform for an album whose eight songs have their own distinctive hooks and bear the stamp of the band’s major influences: Bloc Party, Placebo and Muse.
Add to that list Depeche Mode, Death Cab for Cutie and Coldplay, says Adrian who is also Stereodeal’s chief songwriter.
He recalls how album co-producer Francis Reyes of Peso Movement (and yet another Yahoo blogger) made him watch Nine Inch Nails videos during pre-production for the album.
More input
Bassist Dax Gonzaga offers, “Sa album, I have one song entitled ‘01000011’ which I originally sang on my wedding day. It sounded different then. I had to change it to fit the album sound. I also once played a bass riff to Adrian and he liked it a lot, it became one of the songs entitled 'August.'”
Aside from her drumming, Marie is proud of her share in the collaborative process of the band. “May kanya-kanya kami contributions sa arrangements on the album. In concert, I do songs in which Chris (Cantada, former Stereodeal drummer) drummed in my own style. Like, yung ‘Relentless.’ I keep up with the relentless beat despite my small frame.”
She was equally excited about getting a physical product out. “I’ve done session work for other artists but they end up as digital uploads. This is my first time to appear on a physical release in a live concert at that.”
All-star launch
At the album launch at Route 196, opening acts included esteemed indie outfit Purplechickens (of which Adrian was once a member), Peso Movement and Ely Buendia’s other band Oktaves.
It was a full house that night. Which made for…no dancing?
Said bassist Dax: “Actually wala masyado (obvert) audience response sa amin. Nag-groove sila sa mga kanta pero walang slam o sayawan.
So far, they just sit down and listen lang. Di naman nagkukwentuhan, nananood lang. Iniisip siguro nila naiiba pero maganda naman. So far okay lang sa amin kasi positive naman yung nakikita kong response ng audience sa music namin. Marahil kung malaki ang venue at me space for them, they’d slam if they wanted to.”
Stereodeal’s debut album “Singularity” is available on iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. To order physical copies of the album (on CD) at P300 and official T-shirts, visit their website. For gig skeds and other updates, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and Instagram @stereodeal.
