MANILA, Philippines — What a cool way to launch an album exactly four years ago, on a leap year’s defining day at that!
That was what girl-fronted quartet Gracenote did last Feb. 29 upon launching its third album Small World at Eton Centris, Quezon City, doing it loud and proud in the presence of the mesmerized fans.
The new set of songs, according to the band members, is the result of their transformation as a collective, upping the excitement among themselves as they couldn’t wait to perform them live that Saturday night.
“We keep on evolving as a group and I believe that our current line-up is solid,” said Gracenote’s center of attraction and vocalist Eunice Jorge.
The launch wasn’t initially planned, with things happening over the past couple of years which pushed the release date further and to last month’s astrologically necessitated date. Of the happenings, none was essentially bigger than their signing with major label Universal Records — a development that helped them produce what the band believes is representative of their sound.
Five songs in the album possess instant pop sensibility that should easily connect with listeners, whether true-blue Gracenote fans fondly dubbed Gracians or would-be supporters: Fantasy, Invisible, Paulit-Ulit, No Hate and lead single Kalawakan. Besides, the album title has to do with today’s sense of connectivity. As Eunice related, “Sobrang laki ng universe but music is here to connect people and it makes the world smaller, lalo na na may social media.”
A strong presence on stage with her daredevil-ish sweet voice and charmingly pretty look, Eunice is strongly backed by three equally competent musicians in bass player Jazz Jorge, drummer EJ Pichay and guitarist Tatsi Jamnague — the much-needed last addition to the puzzle and whose long band scene experience makes him valuable to the current recording and rehearsal processes.
Of the band’s use of an alien icon with a V in the forehead, Eunice, who described Small World as purposely conceptualized and straightforward, explained, “V stands for vulnerability. Our current sound is alien-ish to some extent, but the lyrics are human and expressed vulnerability.”
There’s actually a track called City of Vulnerability which sonically explains the pretty contrast even more.
Small World, now available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and all digital streaming platforms, was produced by Nick Lazaro (of La Balls studio) who shares musical history with the band. The boys in the group echoed that the whole thing is an emotional journey, with the songs serving as destinations to where you are at a certain point in your life.
While most artists nowadays tend to put out songs single by single in digital format, Gracenote still believes in the significance of a full-length album. Small World comes in physical CD, too, because of that conviction, Eunice argued, “Mas nakikilala mo ang artist when you listen to a set of their music. It’s really like a trophy na mahahawakan mo after ng lahat ng pinagdaanan niyo doing the songs in the album.”
Meanwhile, the group, owing to its Universal Records attachment, likewise collaborated with TV sensation Maine Mendoza for the latter’s debut single Parang Kailan Lang to be released on March 20. Eunice wrote and produced the track, joined in by the rest of the band during recording.
There you go, it’s another proof that in Gracenote progression, the phrase small world really meant big.