It's been a long time coming, but finally, Faintlight are back with new music.
The pandemic was rough on a lot of bands across the globe, stunting the live music scene and forcing artists to go into survival mode through the lockdowns and physical distancing. But thanks to the internet, artists were able to tackle boredom and loneliness by chasing their bandmates online to work on new music, while others went on to hold livestream concerts from their bedrooms.
"We started writing a bunch of songs during the pandemic," drummer Dave Pimentel shares how their third studio album Black Box came together with Bandwagon. "Most of us had a lot of idle time with work being paused. We thought, what better way than to try and start writing new material?"
Things were all well and good until a hospitalization and the inevitable dread of dwindling finances spurred the 'Hearts On Our Skin' act to pursue other ventures. Vocalist Ron Dela Cruz focused on his clothing brand DGrave, guitarist Bryan Gadia started his own construction firm, and drummer Dave Pimentel opened several businesses, while bassist Bok Alhumiedan stuck it out with music to produce several albums for a couple of local acts.
"We had to take a long pause from music and align our priorities," Pimentel says. "When things finally looked better, that's when we decided to revisit the project. We noticed our songwriting process changed drastically, as well. I think going through what we did individually gave us all a significant change in perspective, and we were finally ready to share some of the music we finished."
Four years later, Faintlight are back with Black Box and the first taste of the album with its opening track 'The Vow'. According to Pimentel, they had no idea what the direction 'The Vow' would take them. "When we wrote the last verse of the song, that's when we realized it was a comeback song," he says. "We were pleasantly surprised with how that turned out, so we just kept going and writing the next few songs needed to complete the six-song lineup."
Ahead of the album's release, Bandwagon caught up with Dave Pimentel to talk about the direction they took with Black Box, his favourite track off the album, and plans for the rest of the year.
Tell us the story behind Black Box—themes, how it came together, songwriting process.
We have a huge library of musical pieces written by Bok and Ron. We pick out the ones we like to start working on and then see if we'll be pleased with the transition or direction until it becomes a song we're happy with.
Let’s talk about the album art. It looks a lot a huge departure from the artwork for your previous records. Who did you work with and what inspired the artwork?
From the stories we experienced and share with each other. With stories some of our friends share with us that inspired us to write the new material. We're lucky to have worked with an artist who translated that vision for us.
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Who’s the personnel behind the album?
It is a collective effort from all of us in the band, and we also got some help from some of our friends
If you each had to pick one song from Black Box to introduce a new listener to, which one would it be and why?
Personal bias for me right now is 'Out to Sea'. From the first few notes of the music piece they wrote, we knew what the direction of that one was going. Knowing what direction to take actually made it ten times harder to finish coz we had to paint the best landscape we can with the words we used for the lyrics.
From all of the songs we've written over the years, these six are the best ones we have so far. We made a conscious effort to just release a few tracks. These are the ones we feel are ready to be shared by the band to anyone who wants to spend their precious time and attention and listen.
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Will Black Box be available on streaming platforms outside Bandcamp?
Yes, [it] will be launched on Spotify, Apple Music, and all major streaming platforms. I think even on TikTok.
What are Faintlight's plans for the rest of the year?
I guess it depends how the reception of the album goes. If people are interested in going to a show and watch us play the songs live, we'd love to organize a few schedules, play side-by-side with a few bands that we love to have. If people are happy just listening to the tracks at the comfort of their home/office/car/commute/etc, that's mighty fine with us, as well.
We dont have concrete plans right now. What we do know is as long as we still have the passion for it, we'll keep writing and releasing music.
Faintlight's Black Box drops on 30 April 2024 on all major streaming platforms.
Stream Black Box below.
Revisit their listening party below.
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