Rekah Share The Struggle of Mental Illness Through “Berbagi Kamar” EP

Rekah Share The Struggle of Dealing with Mental Illness Through “Berbagi Kamar” EP

Often times side eyed and pushed aside by the society, it is no easy feat dealing with mental illness. Rekah, a post-hardcore group hailing from Jakarta use their mini album “Berbagi Kamar” as a medium to speak up about this matter. It is no other than Rekah’s own guitarist, Tomo Hartono, who lives to share his experience as the sufferer of mental illness few years ago. They have a mission to turn back the stigma of mental illness’ sufferers that has deep rooted in our society. People put negative stereotype on people who suffer mental illness and that does not help them from recovering. Rekah feel the urge to speak out and bring this topic forward using music as the platform. “Berbagi Kamar” EP contain five tracks that chronicle the struggle that Tomo has to face as the sufferer. His condition and state of mind affected how he perceived life and death, as well as the relationship with people around him. Albeit playing hardcore tunes, “Berbagi Kamar” is a plethora of various genre in the mix. You can find the aggressiveness of hardcore punk, with the dark gloomy ambience of black metal, an element of post rock and shoegaze approach.

This further proves that Rekah play outside of their comfort zone and choose to experiment with few things to make the formula works. As most of the band from the same genre emphasize on bold and heavy riffs, this band play with the dynamics on each song to avoid using the same pattern and it ends up in a rather complex composition and arrangement. Previously, you might already heard their first single “Belajar Tenggelam” and a bonus song called “Tentang Badai dan Pagi Setelahnya” that is inserted on the music video. The other three are no less compelling and you can listen to this album on its digital format through their Bandcamp account. The album sleeve is designed by Ratta Bill, with the photographs shot by Vira Talisa. Diedra Cavina who is the star on their “Belajar Tenggelam” video also participates to lend her voice to read some verses in this album. “Berbagi Kamar” will also be released on physical format of CD and cassette tapes as well via Bandung’s independent record label, Royal Yawns. It is currently on the process of production and it will be distributed soon, so at the mean time let’s savor what we can have. Here is the full tracklist of “Berbagi Kamar” EP and listen below.

“Berbagi Kamar” Tracklist

1. Lihat Aku Menghancurkan Diri
2. Mengeja Langit-Langit
3. Seribu Tahun Lagi
4. Tentang Badai dan Pagi Setelahnya
5. Belajar Tenggelam