WL//WH New Music THE INTERPRETATION CULTURES
Born in the early 00s as a high school cover band, Makassar, Indonesia-based The Interpretation Cultures is developed in the lo-fi DIY solo project of Fadhli Rafq, who returns with his refreshing bedroom take on 80s/90s indie-pop tropes, after last February’s quite lauded debut “The Interpretation of Indiepop Cultures” EP.
The new two track single, “Ignored Notifications,” is inspired by part of the rawer and punk-inflected style of the dynamic passionate Jakarta-based indie label disanorak/heavenpunks‘ roster.
A creative nod to the skeletal tinny drum boxes of The Sensitives, chock-full of melodic dash and rhythmic energy, the opening “Ignored Notifications” elicits a surreal array of tight, bouncy programmed beats, sparse crisp cow-bells and agile, jittery, humming bass pulses, uncanny gleamy synth motifs, and scraping guitar riffs, amid a dubwise bass-lead slow-slung interlude, swirling around heartfelt spoken vocals with dizzy layers of vibrant back-up supports, to hopefully save at least one life whilst raising awareness for suicide prevention.
The flip, “Sleepyhead” races and clatters urgently on C86-laced rickety distorted guitar leads obsessively squalling over submerged, drowsy vocals radiating through the thick haze, trying to find the positive side of things.
A further compelling sampler of the current dynamic Indonesian DIY indie scene, if still needed.
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