Fresh but familiar. Melancholy but never defeated. Polished but with visible scabs. “370,” the Lilystars debut of Hey, Jane! is a catalog of contradictions, and it’s a joy to listen to.
A little bit of sunny indie pop never hurt anybody. Not even if it’s about an ambiguous romance that eats you up from inside. That’s what new Lilystars Records act Hey, Jane! is delivering with their new track “370,” a buoyant and densely layered pre-summer banger.
Though the members initially leaned differently—shades of blues and jazz go up against the songwriters’ straight-up melodic punch—the band could never have coalesced better than in this hook-laden track. And central in the equation is the propulsive rhythm, one that never lets up despite the romantic strife portrayed in the narrative.
“370” certainly has a lot of pull, from its tasteful chorus-drenched fretwork, infectious octave harmonies, and overall wide-eyed supercharged-ness. But it’s perhaps the paradoxical coupling of form and content where much of its tension lies: the crippling specter of doubt (“Your love with its maybe”) set against a backdrop of sheer musical ecstasy.
The single has that easy-listening charm, and one can imagine it scoring a fun road jaunt or an upbeat college film. There is, in every turn, a negotiation between youthful energy and empty juvenilia, but who says pop should be burdened with providing the answers to life’s greatest conundrums?
Hey, Jane!—singer-guitarist RJ Alava, bassist Kiko Devocion, drummer Ron Bunsoy, saxophonist Mon Leochico, and guitarists Ram Sumangil and Nicole Dimalibot (the latter also authored the single)—has got aces up their sleeves, and “370” is but a quick bite-size taste. Though they operate within generally agreeable confines, one can’t help but wonder what the band can churn out given some wiggle room, seeing now what they’re capable of.
As of this writing, because of imprecise mapping, “370” has somehow landed on somebody else’s artist account on digital stores. Lilystars and their distribution team are working on having this resolved as soon as possible . It is still very much up, though, and has even been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday and YouTube Music’s Released PH playlists.