Nine tracks round out “Capacities,” the third album from Up Dharma Down: that’s nine reasons why you shouldn’t miss the launch next Wednesday.
The band took twice as long between their second and third album as between the first and second: as suspected, this was an indicator of changes to come. Nothing-to-lose, nobody bands aside, there’s always a risk involved in that gap between releases: you don’t want to lose the following you already have, but you don’t want to bore them with repetition either; you want to reach more listeners, but if you chase a currently popular sound, the end result is usually contempt, mockery, and — these days — less sales than you might have expected, after selling your soul.
Apparently the members of UDD have been immersing themselves in the music of the decade in which they were born. The 1980s influence has emerged before, particularly on “Bipolar,” their second full-length album, but it is front and center now: insistent electronic drums, neon washes of synth, ‘80s radio rock guitar, even a singing style that will occasionally give older listeners twinges of déjà vu.
This should set off alarm bells: aping the ‘80s is a familiar tactic by now, employed by countless blogged-about bands, driven either by nostalgia or a paucity of imagination (or both). Not that it’s impossible to appropriate the influence while retaining individuality and originality: witness the best bits of the Drive soundtrack, the new Wild Nothing, and the recent Outerhope EP. UDD can be listed among these ranks, thanks to what seems like a genuine affection for the decade, the retention of a certain chemistry still clearly traceable to their neo-soul-shaded debut, and a stamp of approval from one of their original influences (more on that later).
First single Turn It Well is a highlight: starting off stately and synth-shimmery, then building in urgency and feeling as lead singer Armi Millare’s soul-soaked voice and the electronic instrumentation goad each other into pop greatness, and then are ushered out the door by an utterly ‘80s guitar outro. UDD’s evolving sound serves them in good stead throughout; on instances where the song threatens to tip too far into the sappy or too-familiar — as on the sweet-sounding Luna, and elsewhere — the snap of the beats and the guitar-keyboard interplay bring it back.
It’s hard to describe the thrill and anticipation involved when it comes to the track Feelings — unless you’re an avid fan of both iconic ‘80s-born band The Blue Nile and Up Dharma Down, and have been for years, the fact that Paul Buchanan himself collaborated on a song with UDD will probably not be as mind-blowing for you as it was for me. (It is akin to the excitement I felt as a child when I realized that there was a comic book where Superman actually teamed up with Spider-Man.) When Buchanan’s ragged, unaccompanied voice starts off the song, I almost couldn’t suppress chills. And when Armi joins him — damn. (Please excuse my temporary failure of vocabulary.) Perhaps inevitably, as it progresses, the song itself falls a little shy of my sky-high hopes — it doesn’t quite soar as it should at first listen, though I suspect its climactic passage will grow on me — but, as with the Superman/Spider-Man team-up, it has amazing moments displaying the characteristic best of both acts, and I’m glad it exists.
There are amazing moments throughout the album, actually — turns of tune and stabs of sound that will send little bursts of joy through your brain and heart, as when that scratchy guitar and drum-burst combination precede the chorus of Parks, or when Armi sings “Come back when you’re done” on Night Drops. Almost every song has something like that: something that hooks you and keeps your jaded ears happy. Interestingly, for all the big pop influences — from the Human League to Janet Jackson and everything in between and around that time — there are no obvious “hits,” so to speak. The joys are undeniable, but are woven into a subtler whole.
Band members Armi Millare, Paul Yap, Ean Mayor, and Carlos Tañada are to be commended for stretching their, ahem, capacities on this third full-length release. They’ve given us something indebted to a lost decade, but very much in the here and now. We hope to be listening to it quite a lot in the years to come.
The Capacities album launch is on Wednesday, Nov. 28, 7 p.m., at One Esplanade, in the Mall of Asia Complex.