I’ve always had a soft spot for music from Indonesia. Their country has produced very creative and musically strong music over the years, with bands like Mocca and Agrikulture playing in our little island.

As part of the third installment of the Rockin’ The Region series, Esplanade was proud to present 3 immensely talented musicians, Adhitia Sofyan, The Trees and the Wild and Risky Summerbee and the Honeythief.

As usual, I checked out the Myspace pages of all 3 bands and was quite impressed. I made it in time as Adhitia started playing Adelaide Sky, a beautifully written song about wanting to talk to a girl at a coffee shop and his thoughts. By then, there were a large crowd of people to the extent that a whole group of young Indonesians had to sit on the floor closest to the stage.

I liked how he was unpretentious, and chatted with the audience between songs. Towards the end of the set, he told everyone that he was aware that there would be fireworks and stopped playing, waiting for the fireworks to happen before continuing to play. When it didn’t happen, he played his last song, which was when the fireworks happened.

It was a breathtaking sight, watching the sky explode with colourful streaks, while Adhitia played. His honest, written-from-the-heart lyrics and vocals won me over, and I’ll definitely try and make it for one of his shows if I’m ever in Jakarta.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw The Trees & The Wild on stage was how big the band was, with 7 people on stage and how young they looked! I later found out that the band consisted of 3 members and the rest were sessionists who were friends of the members.

I was really impressed hearing them live! Their music was well-arranged, precise at certain moments, and it wasn’t too complicated until you lost interest after a few songs. They looked young but their talent belied their youthful appearance. Their lyrics were simple but made elaborate by the careful arrangement of each song. A simple task in theory but one very few bands manage to pull off.

The backing vocals of the female vocals was impressive! You wouldn’t be able to tell by her appearance that her vocals were so pure, almost hypnotic and they drew you into each song. They played songs off their debut album, Rasuk, and my favourites were Honeymoon On Ice, Fight The Future and Berlin. Their album has been on heavy rotation on my iTunes since I got it before their set and I predict it’ll still continue to be on long after.

I didn’t manage to stay for Risky Summerbee and the Honeythief because Lunarin was playing at the Substation but I enjoyed what the Indonesian musicians had to offer. I look forward to hearing more from our friends in Indonesia.

(Rebecca Lincoln)

Adhitia Sofyan
The Trees and The Wild