Amplop Records, 3 September 2020
The Quarantine bounce and bash through 3 pop songs that aim for the heart.
Jakarta, Indonesia’s aptly-named The Quarantine have a raw and fun pop punk EP on their hands. We’re Going To Buitenzorg is only 3 songs and 6 minutes, but the songs are catchy earworms with enough pop to get people singing and enough grime to stay punk. It’s an impressive beginning they’re after.
All three songs on Buitenzorg deal with girls and broken hearts and failed relationships. Two of them buzz by fast. Opener “Lady In Red” has a bunch of speed to pair up with simple pounding drums and melodic and simple bass lines. The vocals are pretty catchy and melodic and sound sung through a telephone or megaphone or something – I’m actually a pretty big fan of lots of lofi stuff, so the vocals work for me. And the “lady in red, would you be mine?” chorus is deceptively catchy. Oh yeah, the guitars have a quasi-surfy accent, and I’m a real sucker for that, too. The other fast song, “I Hate You & Want You To Die” is a sort of revenge song with lots of short quick lines about getting devastated by someone. There’s lots of propulsion and an awesome guitar riff on the verses (which are really cool).
The third song on Buitenzorg is a fun mid-tempo number called “Blue Eyes Girl”. With lines like “you’re the sweetest girl I ever meet”, the song ends the EP on a happy note, seemingly bringing the record back around, from being enamored on the opener, to feeling jilted and angry in the middle, and finally finding something new and lasting at the end. “Blue Eyes Girl” has a really delightful feel to it with pop hooks that just stay in your head.
We’re Going To Buitenzorg is a pretty good debut. The songs are fun, the energy is enviable, and the raw buzz is pretty much everything I listen for. A pretty impressive beginning.
Favorite song: “Blue Eyes Girl”
Favorite moment: the surfy guitar accents on “Lady In Red”
Favorite whatever else: “I Hate You & Want You To Die” is a pretty spot-on song title
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
