Yume: Living in A Dreamland with Chamomile – an album review
We’ve heard them first perform in a gig a year ago and back then we didn’t even know their names, we just remembered their song to be adorably sweet and reminded me of Mocca or Banda Neira. Flash forward to April this year, Chamomile, a trio folk-pop band from Malang released their EP called “Yume” – a Japanese term for dream. It’s filled with 7 tracks ranging from slow to mid-tempo folk pop songs. Let’s dissect it one by one in a random order
– “Little Lucy” starts with a monologue about the song, it’s a style that’s becoming a trademark for this band, story telling while singing. In short, “Little Lucy” got all the elements that screams Chamomile. It’s a decent tune and pleasant to listen to, give it a few more spin to get you hooked. The xylophone in the beginning could be a lot clearer and it will make the song more enjoyable to the ears. FYI, Lucy is the fictional character that was made as this album’s main persona.
– “I Got The Food From The Sea” is a cheerful happy-go-lucky track that makes us feel optimistic about life. It would have been dramatic if the song builds up until 01:25 and then halts to an epic ending. But we understand that sometimes a track needs to be long enough to make a cut in an album.
– “Miniature of Heaven” highlights the melodica (pianica) play in the beginning and middle of the song and also the guitar becomes more apparent in this song. Compared to the same cheerful songs before, the feeling is deeper in this one.
– “Life’s just like paper… so write down your story” is repeated towards the end of “Yume”, a track that we initially thought to be instrumental only. It’s not memorable but definitely serves to lead us listeners to enter the world of dream and imagination.
– “Home” got to be one of the standouts from this album. It starts off slow and dramatic then it takes an unexpected turn when the tempo rises up. It’s one of those songs when the theme is sad, but the melody is cheerful. So if you aren’t paying attention to the lyrics you’d probably smile while listening to this.
– We’ve made a review for “Nyanyian Sebelum Tidur” before which was included in a compilation album ‘Kecil Itu Indah #2′. It’s a lullaby indie pop track which highlights musical instrumentals and dreamy vocals. The xylophone and guitars are a treat for our ears and it lulls us to sleep, but that doesn’t mean it’s boring.
– “Kisah Sebuah Labu Ajaib” must be a fairy tale… It includes natural sound effect in the beginning, and they tell a story about a magical pumpkin. The melody is a typical Disney tales’ song and they even insert a sparkling magical effect. This one should be made into a visual.
Overall, this album is a delightful effort from Chamomile to establish themselves as a folk-pop story-telling band. What we like about this album is they stay true to the concept of “Yume”, the tracks flow easily from one to another. They still got a long way to go, especially in each instrumentals’ mastering, for the next album we hope that they won’t play safe anymore and feature more daring and bold melodies. From what we catch, this band sound amazing in acoustic, but do they dare to involve full band set for their future records?
Good luck, Chamomile, you’re set for big things if you keep making solid and inventive tracks.
Streaming Yume on Spotify:
