Something that you write to someone you love

Like the question mark in Sino Sikat? and the exclamation point in The Go! Team, the comma at the end of the band name Dearest, is destined to be excised by enthusiastic editors or completely ignored by fans that are less than obsessive. The prospect does not deter lead vocalist Jackie Francisco, guitarist Miles Malferrari, or bassist Andrew De Pano, however.

“We started out as a group of musicians from the Ateneo Musicians’ Pool, coming together to join an acoustic battle of the bands concert,” says Miles. “We lost that. (laughs) But because of that contest, we decided to be an official band called ‘Last Minute.’ We changed the name to Dearest, after our three other band members left for personal reasons. We thought ‘Dearest,’ with a comma, sounded witty and fun and matched our sound as a band. It’s memorable, especially with the comma. If you want a deeper reason, it’s because we thought that when you write a letter to someone you love, ‘Dearest,’ is the first thing to write. That’s the kind of message our songs want to have, something that you write to someone you love, have loved or might love. Of course not all our songs are about love, but you get it. The comma signifies how the letter is just beginning.”

“Also, it’s ‘Dearest,’ because each song is a message we want to send out to the world,” adds Jackie. “And we wanted a band name that would encapsulate a lot of meaning in one simple word.”

That balance of straightforwardness and substance is evident on a first listen to songs like Time to Go and Don’t Call Me Back, which are immediate, and appealing, and demonstrate a way with melody and a certain casual confidence. These are songs that you know you’ve never heard before, but feel familiar nonetheless—in a good way. On their Facebook page, the band identifies themselves as a New Pop group. One might wonder at the absence of the typical terms that might attach themselves to a band like this: rock, pop rock, indie rock: the usual. “It’s not that we’re avoiding other labels,” explains Miles, “it’s just that our music right now is very fresh and new to us that even we can’t put an exact label on it.”
“Most of the time, it starts with a guitar riff,” says Jackie. “Then we add the melody for the vocals and sometimes it comes hand in hand with the lyrics. We try to take time to think about what we really want to say with each song, so it takes a bit of time to think of lyrics. The rest of the elements, percussion, lead guitar, et cetera, are added as the song structure and lyrics are created. There are times where we add them after the whole song structure has been more or less solidified.

“The songs we have written so far have been about things that we’ve wanted to say but never really had the chance to do so. Each song is a message that we hope people will be able to relate to.”

“All three of us contribute to the songwriting process,” says Andrew. “My main songwriting influence is John Mayer. I started playing bass around last year, when I wanted to cover his song, No Such Thing. The bass line by David LaBruyere really got to me, and got me to start experimenting with the instrument.” Miles says: “We all listen to different kinds of music, but we all somehow considered the same indie bands as our biggest influences.”

Which bands? “We consider bands such as Phoenix and Two Door Cinema Club as our main influences,” says Jackie. “Miles and I also consider Florence and the Machine as one of our biggest influences, although it might not show too much in our sound. Her skill as a vocalist, lyricist, and songwriter is something that personally inspires me to improve my own skill set in those areas.” “As for local artists, I personally look up to Taken By Cars and Up Dharma Down the most,” says Miles.
Here are the band’s plans: “Keep writing and perfect our sound as a band,” says Andrew. “To just keep making music and hopefully get that music out there for people to hear,” says Miles. “Finish the album and tour locally,” says Jackie. “For the future, we hope to expand our horizons and hopefully get to bring our band to shows in other countries.” Hearing their songs and how they play together, it’s not hard to imagine.