Indios is a four-man Filipino band composed of Victor Christian (vocals/guitars/keys), Franklin Joven (bass/vocals), Paul John (guitars/vocals), and Japs Reyes (drums). The first time I listened to them was in a bloggers’ event early this year, and I have been watching out for them ever since. I remember taking note then that Indios was a band that seeks to make music without really making fame their goal.

There is a certain brand of raw inspiration I can sense from their music. I also think that their music, though produced independently, has a sound that is very radio-friendly. With the songs I’ve heard from them, I would be willing to put their record grouped together with other bands like Sandwich, Pupil, and Matchbox 20.

I got the chance to ask the band a few questions in time with the launch of their brand new album Major Fall + Minor Lift. Here are the answers I got from Victor.

Q: In your owns words, can you describe what makes your music unique?

A: We can’t really say that our music is unique in the sense that we don’t sound like anyone else. We have surrendered to the fact that some of our songs will definitely have the undertones of certain tracks from other artists. Musically, there is only a finite number of chords and notes that one can use to make music. And the volume of bands and artists that are trying to mix those ingredients up, will definitely make “sounding unique” all the more difficult. Specially for a new band like us. However, we do our best to deviate from the things that we know other local bands are doing and, as much as possible, try to improve on the influences that we currently have. We also made it a point to never use cliche song lines like “I’m alone in my room, thinking of you”, “I miss you like crazy” and etc.

In the end, our sound is, probably at best, the mixture of all our musical and non musical influences. And these influences range from jazz to old school rock, from a television show to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, from studying Mathematics and Physics during college to loving the sound of an old dot-matrix printer. And all this we try to incorporate into the art that we make. We want our music to encompass some if not all emotions. Making some songs gloomy like Radiohead, some songs light and pop alternative like The New Radicals, and other songs serious and thought provoking like U2. We always start with what sound a song calls for, then we just add our own individual taste to it. We also want to avoid being boxed in a specific genre cause we love to experiment and explore possibilities.

Q: The title of the album is Major Fall + Minor Lift. Can you give us the story behind the title and why chose this to become the album title?

A: At first we wanted to name the record All Them Yearning Souls – which is also the title of the first track on the album. We were already dead set on the name until we started working on the album artwork. After seeing the digital painting our friend did as a proposal for the cover, we decided to review our past ideas and the title Minor Fall Major Lift resurfaced. Minor Fall Major Lift was the title of our first EP and it came from a Jeff Buckley cover song that Leonard Cohen wrote called Hallelujah. And the phrase was a perfect match with the artwork and the overall idea of the record. So we played around with the words and made it Major Fall + Minor Lift.

For us it kind of sealed the deal with us finishing what our first EP started a few years ago.

Q: What were the factors you considered in choosing which songs to include in the album? Was the sequencing intentionally made to tell a story with the songs?

A: The songs from the album were written in a span of five long years. It involved a lot of changes in terms of our musical influences, and it was a conscious effort to make the sound unified in the album. Fortunately we recorded the songs in a single season when we were already stable and comfortable with how we sounded. And being able to do that really helped in making the album sound as a whole, and not as a compilation of separate and disjointed songs.

Basically we arranged and produced the songs in the attempt to make a soundtrack of a day, starting with waking up to All Them Yearning Souls and finally going to sleep with Your Love is My Relief.

There is really no common theme in the album but we do try to make songs with a positive outlook. Over all the album is about yearning for greater things.

Q: What would be your favorite track from the album and what’s the story behind it?

A: We actually love all our songs, but our current favorite is Rachel (Track 4), which is the first single off the album.

The song is based on a 90′s sitcom called “F.R.I.E.N.D.S.” and it tells about the love story between two of the main characters named Rachel and Joey. It is also about a ridiculous phenomenon prevalent nowadays called “the friend zone”. It is where a person is supposedly stuck in a state of relationship wherein they are not able to do anything about their romantic feelings because the other person only sees them as a friend.

Major Fall + Minor Lift features 12 original songs all written and co-produced by Indious and produced by Pupil, Sponge Cola, and Mayonnaise collaborator, Patrick Tirano.

TRACKLIST:
1. All Them Yearning Souls
2. Dotmatrix
3. The Silent Treatment
4. Rachel
5. Look At You
6. Something’s Gotta Give
7. Always Be
8. Scared
9. Counterfeit Love
10. For The Sake Of The Planet
11. She’s A Fire
12. Your Love Is My Relief

See the poster below to learn how to get a copy of Major Fall + Minor Lift.

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