The music alienation of William Elvin

There is an album of all original sounds by a new singer/composer named William Elvin available in the market nowadays. It has a long title. DisConTechNoThisContent: The Musicalienation of William Elvin. I will make no attempt to decipher what he is trying to say with that. I will say instead that because the CD is well-made with all notes in the right places and well-produced with a varied repertoire, I think it deserves to be listened to and hopefully also enjoyed.

William is a theater actor, director, musical director and composer. He likes Green Day and enjoys listening to the songs of rapper Andrew E. The songwriters he admires most are Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins and Ely Buendia. He also dreams of success as a pop star and of being able to perform at the United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls.

Why not? William believes that all it takes is a dream and some cash. Besides, he has always had the music in him. In fact, he has been writing songs since he was 17 years old. But while he had seen his friends at the University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music like Hale and Callalily taking the band route and then signing up with record labels and making hits, the same was not happening to William and his group called The Barpins.

Disillusioned, he said goodbye to his music and to those long nights performing at Mayric’s, the small, but iconic joint on España St. in Manila. He switched instead to the theater and enrolled at the Theater Arts program of the University of the Philippines. While he excelled in school and enjoyed theater work, William found himself unable to totally suppress the music in him. He was still longing to create and perform his own songs.

This was why William returned to songwriting three years ago. He formed a new group which he named Happy Days Ahead and with whom he recorded the album Home Recordings @ The Marilyn Mansion. Reaction to the album was most positive and led to the big job of William writing the music for two works for the theater. Those were the musical adaptation of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac for the UP Dulaang Laboratoryo in 2010 followed by the Dulaang UP’s production of Rizal X a year later.

Those experiences firmed up William’s return to his music and led to his recording an album made up of the songs he had composed over the years. And that collection is what makes up DisConTechNoThisContent: The Musicalienation of William Elvin. Take note aspiring songwriters. You can also do it this way. William recorded his album entirely in his room somewhere in Quezon City, with a laptop, an entry level Zoom microphone, a cheap acoustic guitar and a Fender Stratocaster.

The album is a simple but heartfelt production. The songs, chosen from Elvin’s old files or formerly used in Rizal X or Cyrano de Bergerac, show great promise and some might someday get the full pop treatment by a popular artist. For this album though, William designed them to be laid-back, soundtrack sounds for quiet, personal moments and they work very well indeed.

The songs included are Sinubukan, On My Way To Calvary, Alisbayan Box with Maita Ponce, Bubblegum Blues, Winter Went Away For A While, Walang Kalaban-laban, Ang Sabi Nila, On Their Way To St. Jane and 10/23. The strongest among them are the love songs, But I Love No One But You, imagined as Rizal expressing his feelings for Leonor Rivera and How’s The Bed Sandy? which is about a man’s love for his prostitute wife.

For inquiries about William Elvin and his long titled album, do get in touch with www.facebook.com/williamelvinmusic or Happy Mousey Records at 0917-345-0310.

More from the Pinoy music scene. Here is last week’s list of the most popular videos in the Pinoy MYX Music Countdown: Discolamon by Banda Ni Kleggy; Chinito by Yeng Constantino; Magkabilang Mundo by Jireh Lim; Bumalik Ka Na Sa ‘kin by the Silent Sanctuary; Haunted by Ely Buendia; Salamin by Slapshock; Lipat Bahay by Rico Blanco; Carousel by Bamboo; Pwede Ba? by Midnight Meetings; Gilid by Moonstar88.

High by Save Me Hollywood; Pag-ibig Na Nga Ba Ito by Hansom; Selosa by Sicarious; Tinig by Pathway; Bubble by Yelle; Kaibigan Lang by 2 Years Apart; Haplos by Alden Richards; Puro Laro by KZ Tandingan; Malaya by Kitchie Nadal; and ‘Wag Na Lang by Beating The Red Lights.