Posts tagged ‘Jonathan Ong’
Tempus fugit
Ten years ago, a shy young man from Bulacan penned songs that won his band a major record deal and launched his recording career. Today, the young man has evolved into an internationally respected award-winning songwriter known as Clementine.
Celebrating his ten-year anniversary as a recording artist, Clementine is finally stepping out from behind the curtains as the driving force behind the wildly successful Philippine band Orange and Lemons, and The Camerawalls, and into the spotlight with his Dragonfly Collector solo project.
“There Is No Remaining In Place” is the first single off the Dragonfly Collector full-length album (forthcoming in March, 2014). As of the single’s release date, December 1, members of the Dragonfly Collector newsletter list will receive a free copy of the song via secure download link. Sign up for the newsletter now to keep up with Clementine’s latest news here: http://dragonflycollector.fanbridge.com/
Anyone wanting to both get their hands on the new single and do a good deed for the victims of Yolanda can buy it and Dragonfly Collector will donate 100% of the proceeds to the Red Cross. To donate follow this link: http://music.lilystars-records.com/track/there-is-no-remaining-in-place-single
There Is No Remaining In Place
The first single from Clementine’s Dragonfly Collector project marks a turning point in his songwriting career. With a host of collaborators at his side including high school bandmates, professional colleagues and an international connection, Clementine’s emergent sound as Dragonfly Collector will have listeners spellbound in rapt attention.
Both old and new come together, old influences merging with new ideas. Guitarist Kakoy Legaspi lends an ingenious inventiveness, creating bullet train-like sound effects on his guitar in the intro. Fans of The Smiths will instantly recognize the New Wave cornerstone group’s influences in the opening aggressive bass and pounding off-beat drums, not to mention a smooth vocal line and introspective lyrics. The Paul McCartney side of the Beatles emerges later in sweeping keyboard chords and a mellow major key section arising out of the driving, searching minor part.
A swaying waltz rhythm adds to the intensity of the driving motion, making listeners feel like they’re on a journey with the singer, telling of journeying toward a new, unknown future. And so Clementine is venturing into a new leg of his songwriting life with this exciting new work.
Visit the official site: http://dragonflycollector.com
Track Credits
Words and Music by Clementine
Produced by Clementine and Jonathan Ong
Recording, Mixing and Mastering by Chrisanthony Vinzons at Sonic State Audio Studio, Manila
Musicians:
Clementine – vocals, acoustic guitars
Kakoy Legaspi – electric guitars
Wowee Posadas – piano, keyboards
Christine Mazur – cello
Vengee Gatmaitan – bass
Jojo Gatmaitan – drums
Artwork and Illustrations by Ige Trinidad
Photo by Paulo Legaspi
The Gentle Isolation (TGI) appears to have turned a corner with their latest single, a cover of “Sea Horses” by Blueboy. Despite their deceptively laissez-faire attitude towards gigging – hey, it’s hard to commit when your lead guitar-man has gone AWOL – the band has been quietly making music, sight unseen. And if you listen very closely, you sense a new confidence in the way they deliver their twee-fied version of indie pop.
“Sea Horses” has been in the band’s repertoire for a while now, with a demo already recorded last year. TGI is releasing the finished single as a tribute to the late Keith Girdler, vocalist of Blueboy, who passed away in 2007 due to cancer. Blueboy, which formed in 1989, was but one of Girdler’s projects; the original “Sea Horses” is from Blueboy’s 1992 album, If Wishes Were Horses.
Cover Art by Justine Basa
It’s a beach tune, another spotless afternoon kind of tune, the kind of song you want playing when you’re off to an adventure with your mates, cares be damned. TGI has made their cover version even more joyous than the original – quite fitting, given that Girdler’s friends have noted how he had wanted to be remembered with “happiness and smiles.”
TGI, which currently is made up of bassist Monch Cristobal, vocalist Ness Urian, and drummer Bach Rudica, ropes in Clementine (also their label manager and singer-songwriter of The Camerawalls, which Rudica is also member of) to play guitar this time around. The song is guitar-driven – more often than not a note held on a consistently strumming string, while the drums keep apace and then signal a change. The foursome switch up the tempo almost on a whim, from a running start to a slow glide and back again, but there’s a control there that the listener can appreciate.
One is treated to stronger vocals from Urian, who seems to be over any hesitancy or shyness usually plaguing a first-time singer. Instead of mimicking Girdler’s hushed murmur or Gemma Townlet’s strident, almost defiant, falsetto, Urian keeps it steady. There’s a conviction and a confidence in her delivery of the lyric, “don’t cry / don’t sigh / there’s more to me than you think.”
Of course, lyrics are incidental for this particular tune. Never mind those cryptic references to a love lying “bleeding on rain-soaked beaches” (yes, more than one beach is being bled upon, after the rain) and a certain Steven “writing” and “writhing” (pun intended) – who is Steven, we don’t know, and we don’t really care. The beauty of The Gentle Isolation channeling Blueboy is that it’s easy to get lost in the music. Steven can go on bleeding, rose petals can keep shedding, as long as the song goes on.
Download Sea Horses for FREE at http://lilystarsrecords.bandcamp.com/track/sea-horses
Words and Music by Blueboy
Produced by Clementine
Engineered and Recorded at Sonic State Audio by Robert Javier and Chrisanthony Vinzons
Mixed and Mastered at Sonic State Audio by Jonathan Ong
Recorded and Performed by The Gentle Isolation
Ness Urian – vocals
Monch Cristobal – bass / acoustic guitar
Bach Rudica – drums
Electric guitars recorded and performed by Clementine
Cover Art by Justine Basa inspired by The Blue Boy (c. 1770) an oil painting by Thomas Gainsborough
Special thanks to Gary Sansom of Dufflecoat Records
