Bamboo is back

MANILA, Philippines - Good music never ends and one great artist never stops. Just one spin of the highly-anticipated album in the OPM rock scene this year, No Water, No Moon, Bamboo Mañalac’s first solo release under PolyEast Records, and it’s clear that there’s life beyond his career as a frontman.

“Nothing’s changed. It’s the same pressure that I’ve always put on myself  whether in a band or going on my own, or whatever I do. Just wanting to push, claw and climb,” Bamboo said in an interview.

Bamboo’s debut album was released in the market last Nov. 20. Produced and featuring compositions by Bamboo himself, the album was introduced to listeners through the lead single Questions, which debuted on radio stations nationwide last Sept. 22, accompanied by a music video co-directed by Treb Monteras III.

Come Dec. 4, No Water, No Moon will be officially launched in ASAP Rocks. It will be followed by an in-store CD signing as well as a meet and greet at Odyssey SM Megamall at 4 p.m. and Astroplus SM Mall of Asia, 7 p.m. Those who will join the signing will get a free Bamboo baller and poster plus a chance to be a part of the CD launch in partnership with Pony and Yahoo! Philippines.

Questions offers a glimpse of the polished pop direction that Bamboo’s music is heading towards what with the on-trend synth chord progressions and cascading backup strings.

According to Bamboo, he felt that Questions “was a good intro to the album because it has a lot of colors and instrumentation that we have in the album in just one song. The song is personal but I thought it spoke of human experience.”

Bamboo continued sharing his thoughts about the album title: “It’s a Japanese koan  something I read from time to time over the years. I never thought of it as an album title but when it came down to choosing one and basing it on the general tone and sound of the album and what the koan for me, it just fits the album’s concept.”

The release includes such songs as In Shadow, Please, Morning Rose, Back On My Feet, Spin, In This Life, Down The Line, All Hail The Fool, The Only Way, Just Go and the bonus track  the only Tagalog song in the album  titled Ikot Ng Mundo.

“The songs just draw from my own personal church of music. (It’s) the stuff I sit around listening to. So I see this album as a homage to my favorites. The idea was to still continue doing what I enjoyed doing when I was with a band. Some songs have an element of hearing it again for the first time because of what the other players brought to the pot,” he said.

Going the route of being a band frontman to a solo act is no easy feat. That did not stop Bamboo’s ambitious resolve to conjure up a new and eclectic set. By teaming up with some of the finest musicians in the industry like Rio Osorio, Kakoy Legaspi, Jun Jun Regalado, Bong Gonzales and Simon Tan, Bamboo was able to present his musical visions in the album. He said, “I wanted to find a chemistry between the players that made feel like we’ve been playing together as a band for years. So the process was longer than usual from my experience and we hit a snag or two along the way.”

As Bamboo goes back to what he’s known for, he’s also back with depth and the personal nature of his lyrics, coupled with his cool, smooth voice and brilliantly adept songwriting capabilities. Bamboo, who produced and wrote most of the songs, has been in the US for mixing at Hyde Street Studios by Scott Mcdowell and final mastering of the album by Brad Blackwood at Euphonic Masters.

Bamboo’s infusion of rock, pop, jazz and bluegrass melodies along with a 12-piece orchestra to create a collection of hypnotic, genre-bending material shows renewed confidence from musician unafraid to stride beyond industry expectations.

“It’s a restart. The whole process 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 that joy back again.”