Roadshow with a Dash of Rock and Jazz: Lola Amour Shares Music Aboard the Wish 107.5 Bus

Last June 3, Monday, was a jazzy Roadshow episode with OPM octet Lola Amour sharing their music on board the Wish 107.5 Bus. And though relatively young, the indie rock-jazz troupe formed in 2016 has expertly invaded the roving musical platform with performances that showcase their rather complex sound.

Opening their three-song set, Lola Amour delivered their latest single “Sanity,” distributed via Warner Music Philippines. In a press release, the band shared that the track “talks about the lingering ghosts we remain tethered to despite their absence and how we sometimes still feel chained down to them.”

Musically, it “sounds quite heavier as compared to [their] previous releases, but does not stray away from the unique style of the band."

The eight-piece also performed a cut off their debut EP, “Don’t Look Back.” The effort opener “Fools” tells a story of giving in to the temptations of love, with their wind instrument-powered melodic sounds punctuating the musical narrative.

Closing out their first-ever Wish Bus stint, the upstart served “Pwede Ba,” whose official music video was released earlier in February.

“This is the only Filipino song we released, it’s called ‘Pwede Ba.’ And the chorus is about not wanting to go to class. I felt like writing that because I woke up from a nap and I was late [for school],” vocalist Pio Dumayas recounted. Turning it to something more profound, the frontman shared that it can be considered a song “about not wanting to separate [from the people and things we love] in spite of knowing that separation is inevitable.”

Composed of Dumayas, Martin Kim (backing vocals, keyboards), Raymond King (background vocals, bass), Mico Fernandez (guitars), Zoe Gonzales (guitars), Angelo Mesina (trumpet), Joxx Perez (sax), and Renzo Santos (drums), the group became a familiar name with indie music aficionados when they won the 2017 edition of Wanderband, a competition among the country’s up-and-coming bands.

Since then, they have been a fixture in the local music circuit, playing at different venues and gracing several music festivals.

When asked about the sound they are aiming for, King shared that they have more of a go-with-the-flow kind of mindset. “Basically, we just want to jam,” he shared, while explaining that if they have a core sound, they would like to describe it as “melan-jolly” — a play on the words “melancholia” and “jolly.”  

In terms of their songwriting process, the bassist noted that they just write the emotions that they feel.

“We write what we feel. It’s kind of cheesy to hear, but an advice we can give to other writers is to stick to the emotions that they feel,” he remarked.

Stream Lola Amour’s latest single, “Sanity” below:

Watch their Wish Bus performance of "Pwede Ba" below:

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