Shine on, crazy (6cycle)mind!

Something old and something new inhabit the debut album of the young Filipino rock band 6cyclemind, Permission to Shine (BMG-Musiko), which indeed shines brighter than any rookie offering in the recent past, excluding the initial CDs of old "new" bands like the Mongols and Bamboo. 6cycle, at least on our first several hearings of their CD, have what it takes to be in the major league of the Pinoy pop league: a strong, guitar-laden sound, catchy hooks, a propulsive rhythm section, a distinctive vocalist and solid songwriting.

Still 6cycle, like all potentially great bands, are more than the sum of their parts, in this case seemingly average young fellows perhaps just out of college (a couple or so from the CEU Conservatory of Music?), who judging from their liner note photos, are plain Juans one would encounter sitting in a jeepney or tricycle with newly hiked fares.

And who hasn’t heard the carrier single off Permission, the radio amiable Biglaan, which plays often enough on the airwaves that it gets the listener unconsciously singing along. Telling the classic tale of the jilted lover, Biglaan may well represent the band’s strength as well as likely pitfall, if it can be called that. While both the acoustic and electric versions contain the old reliable buangst (Visayan coin for crazy angst), hearing the song twice on the CD after the repeated barrage on the radio may just drive the listener up the wall, bigla mo na lang papatayin ang CD player.

Better because less familiar are some of the other tracks on Permission, such as the opener Wait or Go with its bevy of guitars including what sounds like a pseudo-slide guitar, the dark and brooding Forever I’m Sorry that showcases vocalist Ney Dimaculangan’s best growl, and even Sige which has a bouncy and classic new wave feel.

Also noteworthy are the melancholic Fly written by lead guitarist and producer Chuck Isidro, the Sandwich-influenced Sentimental Garbage that has additional lyrics by Raymund Marasigan, and the closer Nalilito with its army of guitars holding aloft a killer rift.

Perhaps mention should be made now of the band’s "invisible" sixth member, songwriter Darwin Hernandez, to whom crafting diverse hooks must be second nature.

The songs rely on a melodic twist of phrase, yet providing ample space for guitarists Isidro and Rye Sarmiento to expand and interpolate.

One might be unjustifiably worried that bass player Bobby Canamo and drummer Gilbert Magat might get lost in the mix, what more with the dominant Dimaculangan’s voice up front, but they never do. The rhythm section acts like a conscience to keep things in line. (As in the commercial or famous ad copy, the conscience is alter- instead of super-ego and can speak!)

Have we mentioned all the band members already? As for influences there are many, or shall we say legion. 6cycle at the outset makes us nostalgic for Alamid of yesteryears, the band formerly known as Athena’s Curse which played in the original Club Dredd along Scout Tobias in lower Timog. That said, the music of 6cycle has the same smoky ambience of nearby ihawans, the bubble and froth of innumerable pale pilsens, and relays the quaint satisfaction one gets when pissing straight into a running canal in the dark of night.

The band is not without its excesses, as in Tunay that has the wherewithal to out-karaoke karaoke, or the pre-planned repeated play of Biglaan, which could make 6cycle surpass Victor Wood as jukebox king.

But just when we thought the CD was over, along come the bass and drums laying out a track for potential jamming, only to slowly fade out. One might be tempted to call 6cycle the rebirth of jeproks, except that these guys are much younger and more inventive than to be labeled so. If you give them enough time, they will grow gracefully and slowly meld together to create a different sound. They just have to keep their heads in the right place to last through six cycles of pleasure and pain. Shine on, crazy minds.