“I think we took longer than expected to get used to John not being around, and playing music without his ‘voice’ being a part of it. We had to turn inward and do a little searching for a sound within ourselves.”
“John” being indie pop band Take Two founding member and guitarist, Johnathan Lim. His departure led to a name change – M1LDL1FE – as the remaining quartet (viz. Paddy Ong : Lead Vocals, David Siow : Bass, Tan Peng Sing : Guitar & Jeryl Yeo – Drums) decided to reinvent themselves completely.
One might consider this foolhardy considering the goodwill built up in the Take Two name but the band decided to begin afresh with a new sound as well, which reflected the absence of a guitarist – diving into a more electronic pop approach.
The cynics out there might consider this move a calculatedly commercial one – the proverbial “selling out” but this is 2017 not 1995, the music landscape is all about being market savvy and understanding your potential audience. And in that respect, we believe that M1LDL1FE have got their sums right.
The debut EP is exactly what the young Singaporean music lover wants – chilled electro-pop vibes, dancey rhythms and vague allusions to angst and loss – precisely what a modern pop band sounds like.
There’s nothing remotely organic about the music here – it could have been put together by an algorithm – perfectly reflected in “Super Algorithm Digital Mee” and in a sense, what Kraftwerk pioneered in the 70s as an avant-garde exercise is now mainstream fodder.
Does the formula work?
Last month, M1LDL1FE debuted the music video for their first single, “Distraction”, which topped the Spotify Viral 50 Chart in Singapore. Their second single, “How You Forget”, also topped the iTunes Rock charts in Singapore.
Pop does indeed eat itself!
Listen:
M1LDL1FE will be performing their first ever live show on August 5th at the Henderson Industrial Park. Tickets from http://m1ldl1fe.peatix.com/
… still there’s more …