A Month Worth Remembering
Time flew so fast when you are having fun is actually a pretty legit quote in context to our ‘Casement’ EP release. The memories of our crazy decision to create a simple 3 songs EP on a whim, still projected vividly inside my head. Back then, due to covid uprising in Indonesia circa mid 2021, we finally are able to meet after 2 months of being stuck inside our own respective flats for safety reasons. Safe to say we started that day as normal as everybody else — by venting our frustration to each other about how those 2 months has messed our plans big time. It’s not that this EP is actually within our plan to begin with. Nonetheless, a lot of things especially on the music production side has been halted pretty harshly, due to our inability to record acoustic stuff in a proper manner remotely.
Well, not everything happened during that time is all bad though. Theo’s effort in using twitter as a way to communicate with other Bandcamp users and fans has actually resulted in a very decent Bandcamp Friday sales for our first EP ‘St. Germain’. Those happy things we celebrate remotely has became a thing I kept pretty close to my heart. I pretty much said to myself, “Amidst this shitty situation, please be aware about every minute happiness that has happened”. A pretty nice mantra, eh? That thing I’ve said led me to take a more calmer approach to songwriting for ‘Casement’ EP.
On The Way to Casement
Man, reflecting from what we wrote for this EP made me realize, how uptight and ambitious we both are when we start Jemala. For a project aimed to create music with easier listening experience, we did tried our best to push that notion to the edge. Complex chord progressions and song structures complete with hefty layers of instruments and vocals. Boy, I felt we both overdid what we aimed to do at the start. On my part, I’m pretty sure it was caused by my fear of incompetence as an amateur musician. Fast forward to half a year later, we actually felt less pressured by many scary things inside our heads when we first started this project. Honestly, it’s not a bad start. I do think it’s a learning curve we actually need to pass through to become better. It made me realize the fact that it doesn’t hurt to challenge myself to tone things down now and see if we can still make something good out of it.
Thus, came that talk about making simple 3 songs EP for the last bandcamp friday of the year 2021. As we planned it around the start of September, I honestly was very skeptical by the fact that we only got around a month to finish this EP before November. Dude, September to November means 2 months? Yep, true. But, Theo needs to be back to his hometown Jogjakarta by mid October for his lil’ bro’s wedding ceremony and we need this EP to be done before November to join the last 2 bandcamp fridays of this year. And no, it’s not his fault that this EP can’t be developed in 2 months. Dominic Toretto has made it very clear about how important family is beyond being fast and furious. Okay, back to ‘Casement’. I do agree with Theo that we need to have something new at the end of this year. He is really optimistic about it too. So as a pure pessimistic being, I repressed my skepticism and took a rare leap of faith to trust this guy’s unbelievable sense of positivity.
We then have a simple jam session using two of my new acoustic sketches whilst filming our submissions for Mola Chill Audition at the start of September. We didn’t make it through the audition though, but it’s alright. It’s nice to have two new contents of us playing live sessions on our own Youtube Channel. Afterwards, we actually got three sketches with solid enough form to start a recording session. I’m not going hide this fact, this EP is heavily influenced by Sufjan Stevens’ newest album with Angelo De Augustine titled ‘A Beginner’s Mind’. It was still a collection of single releases back then. Those songs they made sounds really simple and clean. Hyperbolically, I’ll say that it sounds effortless. I thought to myself while listening, “I want to make something like that too. A compilation of music that felt effortless to be listened over and over again”.
Still within the same day at night. As we waited for our dinner, we talked about the message of this whole EP. Theo suggests that we talked about something specifically simple about life. “Just don’t bring up any talk about this pandemic again. It’s a tired conversation and everybody has been making songs out of the same stuff since that last semi-lockdown.” he said. I agreed, it’s been close to two years living in a worldwide pandemic and I don’t feel there’s anything left to respond to, let alone responding to it again with songs. Everybody has been there, done that. Since we both are adamant to not make songs around the sadness or hope within this pandemic again, it somehow made me think about some specific simple happiness moments I’ve experienced from before and during this pandemic. “Maybe we can talk about simple happiness again just like our very first single, but we can make it more specific like for me… Staring outside a window helps to release some tension and it’s one of the easiest form of relief for every digital laborers like us”, I replied. Sorry if this sounds a bit anti-climactic. But honestly whenever I felt like shit, looking outside a window whether it’s inside an office building, a bus, or my own bedroom always helped me calm myself down a bit. That poetic situation always finds it’s way to give me a chance to re-align my perspective.
Surprisingly without much compromise, Theo actually agreed with that idea. The greatest thing about it is, it didn’t turn into some serious philosophical talk. The talk pretty much revolves around the fun stuff people usually did to enjoy simple happiness. It does feel like it’s a good sign for an “effortless” EP. And just like that, voila! ‘As I Stared Outside’ became the first track we recorded and finished in one week after that first jam session, and I thought to myself, “Phew… 2 more songs to go!”. Then came this exclamation from Theo, “Man, I’m super positive that we can make a 5 songs EP!”. I will never know where did that youthful ambition came from.
Days passed pretty quickly when we are processing this EP and every week we managed to jam a sketch and recorded an instrumental track for further structural markings. The craziest thing about it is, around the second week of September we are already polishing a very new sketch that Theo made over the weekends as our second song ‘I Humbly Receive’. It was first titled as ‘Itadakimasu’ though by Theo. Then we both thought it’ll be special if we change the title to that if by any chance we can get a deal with a Japanese record label. Amen! That sketch is not even a part of the sketches we had jammed together at the start of the month. It almost felt too fast and too good to be true. Please don’t think of this as a flaunt of confidence, honestly we don’t even know until now if we’re actually doing the right thing for this EP. But, after 2 months of not actually making any music other than my personal electronic synth jams. I felt my ears became very fresh upon starting this new EP. That led to a faster decision making which played a big part on the fast processing of these songs. Also, we had an informal oath to each other to not make any complicated songs with lengthy duration.
Though I said it’s fun, we definitely still felt the tension and the fatigue plaguing our bodies after passing the third week mark. At that point I definitely knew, the hurdle starts from there. I know I’ve said it like a serious thing, but during that third week we actually are making our fourth song. Fourth? Aren’t it supposed to be a 3 songs EP? Apparently, Theo’s optimism is slowly manifesting.
You know sometimes when you’re tired, you just want to find some alternative stuff to do before you’re back into business again. For us that alternative stuff turns out to be another new song sketches. It’s like 25% jam session, 25% recording, 25% mixing and 25% mastering. I’m not sure though, my math sucks. More than that, I think every math aspect inside me has been sucked out and trashed somewhere outside of this world.
Approaching the last day of September, we’re already polishing our fifth song. Yeah it’s the fifth song in our processing queue, but eventually it became the very intro to this EP. It’s an instrumental titled ‘En Route’ which we’re able to finish in two days time with the blessings of our dopamine and adrenaline. Sure, September 2021 has become a very intense month right after we met. Yet the happiness and thrill to be able to finish some songs that we’re both happy to listen over and over again has somehow gave us the strength to forget about our own fatigue for a bit. At least before we groan again on the next morning.
By the time we reached the start of October to our own surprise, we actually managed to top Theo’s optimism with a sixth song. Oh well, we might very well still be that uptight and ambitious men with just a tad different songwriting vibe after all. That’s why I wrote ‘A Month Worth Remembering’ for this article’s title. It’s tough, sometimes it did felt like borderline unnecessary to push our limits like that with our amateurish background. But, somehow we made it and we both are really happy with the result.
Every single test we did whether it’s mastered or even rough mix test felt enjoyable. The songs we made reflects the very thing we aimed for, effortless simplicity. Though as a matter of fact, I’ll never know how it’ll be for each and everyone of you when you listen to this EP. I can only hope our very best effort combined with our joy during that big September to October 2021 run can be reflected in full when these 6 songs finally reach your ears.
Just like everybody else, we know we have a very big dream. So big that sometimes it can be too scary to believe. Yet these kind of moments made me realize that, whilst we need to push ourselves harder and better each day. We don’t actually need to turn a blind eye to those microscopic bits of happiness. Though our dream still feels so far away, I’m quite sure that those little bits will help pave the way for us to walk towards that big dream. Maybe, that’s what makes some people able to say, “Enjoy the process!” with a big smile. Because in my perspective, I believe the process doesn’t only consists of pain, blood, sweat and tears. It should also contain some small and almost insignificant dosage of stuff that somehow able to force a smile out of our grim faces during stress. Thus with that believe, I together with Theo as Jemala, kindly present to you this ‘Casement’ EP. I do sincerely hope this release can become a great companion for you. A companion that’ll help you find your own small happiness within your very own epic journey.
And it doesn’t matter, how slow you’ll find the rhythm of your life
