04.29.2009

PULSE RATING 6.5

THE DAWN'S THE LATER HALF OF DAY

by Karlo Jose R. Pineda

It was a boring Monday afternoon when I slid 3 Doors Down: Away from the Sun, Live from Houston, Texas in my DVD player. Two reasons: Daniel Adair, who is now with Nickelback, is drumming for the band and something on the DVD’s back label indicates that, if I run it, I’d be brought to “the middle of the band’s hot, sweaty, ready-to-rock fans to experience their biggest night on tour.” For someone who venerates flannel shirts, disheveled hair, and Kurt Cobain, there’s no passing up on such provocation.

And it didn’t disappoint. The concert came in raw and driven and powerful. So powerful that you can practically hear the kick drum and snare shots reverberate in your brain. By that time, feeling the rush of mounting a drum kit inside the room and drumming along with Adair with a primal urge waiting to be unleashed is very much excusable.

(Yes, I play the drums, but no, my skills aren’t at par with Adair’s. And so what? Some people have the guts to sing Through the Fire in videoke bars even if the closest they could get to belting out is shrieking the sound of a fork screeching against a blackboard.)

“Maybe JB [Leonor] has something to match Adair’s foray,” I told myself after watching the videoed concert, the new The Dawn album, titled The Later Half of Day, a few inches away from reach. So I picked up the CD on my bed, inserted it in the player, grabbed my drum sticks and drum pad (and some pillows), put on my drumming game face (whatever that looks like!), and readied myself to drum along. “This stuff should rock,” I said. “After all, from where they last took off (Tulad ng Dati, 2006)? C’mon, man.” 

Played the first track, Love Will Set Us Free. Melted my drumming game face in incredulity. For chrissakes, I thought for the moment I was listening to Sitti! But then it’s really Jett Pangan’s voice wafting in the room. So, in disbelief, I forwarded to the second song, the third, the fourth…and to my dismay, all songs—The Dawn staples, which, in their original form, are impetuous enough to literally bring the house down, mind you—surprisingly echoed a jive far from the band’s usual sound. This jazzy-fied Dawn playlist, which includes Dreams, Little Paradise, Beyond the Bend, Enveloped Ideas, and other hits, is complemented with the foursome’s laid-back renditions of 80s classics like Don’t You (Forget About Me), In Between Days, I Melt with You, and  Message in a Bottle. Oh! Watch out for an oddball Easter egg, too. Clue: it’s the same song Mandy Moore tried to recreate in 2003.

And it hit me. All along, it was there, furtively imposed in the title. The way the 13 songs in the album are rendered is like witnessing the setting of the sun: stealth, in faint radiance, calming. If it’s something that caused initial chagrin to this expectant listener, it’s his own expectations for the usual intensity of a rock band, more specifically, of The Dawn. More specifically, on a boring Monday afternoon. 

But then maybe this is The Dawn impressing us with the gamut of their musicality. Maybe it’s them asking us, the fans, this author included, to lounge, loosen up, and just chill as they try to eclectically innovate. Certainly, no big-arena rocking here: no rock-steady skin-striking from JB; no finger-frenzied plucking from Buddy; no lung-busting crooning from Jett; no, well, usual Francis Reyes. Just a pensive groove gradually exploding in random afterglows. Still maybe, this is how one of the country’s premier rock legends would like to position themselves in the meantime: in a party where tuxedos and cocktails are the trend.

The album may be lacking in dynamics and decibels, but the new possibilities it presents to make every live set of The Dawn more exciting are apparent. It’s a different flavor altogether.

Nevertheless, if there’s a redeemer in the album to sate a rocker’s appetite, it’s got to be the acoustic guitar-driven version of Iisang Bangka Tayo, which can very well be the song playing during the credits of another The Dawn movie.

So, in a nutshell, this is The Later Half of Day. Let’s see if next time, we’ll once again be ready to face the light (in case you missed it, that’s a toast to Harapin ang Liwanag).

 

 

(Postscript: According to The Dawn, this early, they’re already working on their follow-up album to The Later Half of Day. “This time maingay na siya uli,” announced Jett Pangan in a recent mall show. Said album is worth looking forward to as, if plans go accordingly, it will feature Francis Reyes on vocals in a song titled Lumuhod.)

 

TAGS: the dawn the later half of day

Share this Review!

POST A COMMENT:

You must be logged-in to post a comment.



  • 2010
    • FEBRUARY
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        THE FLAMING LIPS' EMBRYONIC
        7
  • 2008
    • DECEMBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        ERASERHEADS: THE REUNION CONCERT
        7.5
    • OCTOBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        RICO BLANCO: YOUR UNIVERSE [WARNER]
        8
        BEHOLD, REJOICE! SURFERNANDO IS HEAR NAH! JOAN ISON SURFS THE MARKUS HIGHWAY AND ENDS UP WANTING TO SURF MORE.
        8
    • APRIL
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        EDDIE VEDDER INTO THE WILD
        8.5
        FOO FIGHTERS ECHOES, SILENCE, PATIENCE & GRACE
        8
  • 2007
    • OCTOBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        DOLORES O'RIORDAN ARE YOU LISTENING?
        6
    • SEPTEMBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        PETER BJORN AND JOHN WRITER'S BLOCK
        8
        VARIOUS ARTISTS DISNEY 50: THE MUSIC BEHIND THE MAGIC
        8
        MIKA LIFE IN CARTOON MOTION
        4.5
        RIVERMAYA BAGONG LIWANAG (EP)
        8.5
    • AUGUST
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        COLD WAR KIDS ROBBERS & COWARDS
        7
        PAROKYA NI EDGAR MATIRA MATIBAY

        PG-13 (SINGLES 1994-2007)
        8.5
    • JULY
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        PERNILLA ANDERSSON CRADLEHOUSE
        8
        RADIOACTIVE SAGO PROJECT TANGINAMO ANDAMING NAGUGUTOM SA MUNDO FASHIONISTA KA PA RIN
        10
    • JUNE
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        SILENT SANCTUARY FUSCHIANG PAG-IBIG
        4
        VARIOUS ARTISTS IN LOVE WITH BACHARACH
        7.5
    • MAY
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        INCUBUS LIGHT GRENADES
        7
        BLOC PARTY A WEEKEND IN THE CITY
        8
        JENNIFER LOPEZ COMO AMA UNA MUJER
        8
    • APRIL
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        BROWNMAN REVIVAL AYOS DIN
        2.5
        JOSS STONE INTRODUCING JOSS STONE
        8.5
    • MARCH
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        AFI DECEMBERUNDERGROUND
        4.5
        NORAH JONES NOT TOO LATE (Blue Note Records/EMI)
        8.5
        SOUND BLUE MONSOON
        8.5
        CHINGY HOODSTAR
        7
    • FEBRUARY
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        LL COOL J TODD SMITH
        8
        LANI MISALUCHA LANI MISALUCHA
        7
        FOO FIGHTERS SKIN AND BONES
        8.5
    • JANUARY
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        HALE TWILIGHT (EMI Philippines)
        7
        EVANESCENCE THE OPEN DOOR (Wind-Up/Sony-BMG)
        6.5
  • 2006
    • DECEMBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        SALINDIWA ONE
        8.5
        THE DAWN TULAD NG DATI
        9
        SESSION ROAD BAKIT HINDI?
        7
        GERALD SANTOS A DAY ON THE RAINBOW
        5
        D'SOUND MY TODAY
        8.5
        GNARLS BARKLEY ST. ELSEWHERE
        7
    • NOVEMBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        HILERA HILERA (EMI Music Philippines)
        8.5
        IMAGO BLUSH (Universal Records Inc.)
        8
    • OCTOBER
      • SONG TITLE ARTIST RATING
        NARDA DISCOTILLION (eVille Productions/Synergy Music)
        9
        JANET JACKSON 20 Y.O. (Virgin/EMI)
        9
        ORSON Bright Idea (Mercury/Universal Music Intl.)
        8
        CALLALILY DESTINATION XYZ (Sony BMG Music)
        6.5
        THE RACONTEURS Broken Boy Soldiers
        (Third Man Recordings/V2)
        8