Sweethearts on fire

MANILA, Philippines - Duster — that quintessential piece of clothing worn by the Filipina in all her incarnations.

The band name had been floating around the head of Sandwich and Imago bassist Myrene Academia for years, reserved for a future all-girl group, which finally came around when band-mate Raimund Marasigan got Lourd de Veyra of Radioactive Sago Project to write some lyrics for a collection of music lying around in the studio. Getting Katwo Puertolanno of Narda and Kris Gorra-Dancel of Cambio was a no-brainer since everyone just wanted to work with each other. Finding a drummer was a bit trickier. Until Ristalle Bautista showed up and blew everyone away.

The girls have released their debut album under Sony Music Entertainment titled “Sweetheart Snackbar.”

Bannered by the catchy single Dek-A-Doodle Dandy, the band puts a disclaimer on what the song is about.

“It’s not what you’d think at first,” Katwo said, “definitely not about drug addiction.”

“Addiction can mean anything — about music, hobbies, love. This song is about positive addiction,” Myrene said.

It is not the typical girl band one hears this record. With Raimund, Lourd and ex-Eraserheads and The Dawn bassist Buddy Zabala helping with the production and recording process, expect a sound that will not include “mediocre” in the vocabulary. Tracks like Automatrimonia, Miss Me, Sexxing the Cherry and Dekonstruction prove that good lyrics go best with good music.

With electronic beats and solid sound, the listener will be taken to another level. Like the reliable duster, their music speaks for itself and as their album title suggests, it’s a snackbar with wide variety of snacks that you will never grow tired of digesting.

“Sweetheart Snackbar” is now out on CD at leading record stores under Sony Music Entertainment Philippines.