Listening to new songs from folk duo The Pamphleteers — “Reading Day” and “You Looked Better When You Looked at Me” — is like hearing two sides of a conversation.
Dee Cruz sings the first, a song that, despite their differences, urges the other to stay. Maybe to work on them. The second, a cynical track sung by Aldus Santos, is like a spiritual cousin to Johnny Cash’s “Hurt,” which is as soulful as it gets.
The 2 songs make up their Double-A single, “Two Novellas”, released on all streaming platforms on February 17, by Offshore Music.
Both songs, according to Santos, “are a study in contrasts” and that forces me to listen carefully. The ongoing pandemic has affected and influenced many artists’ songwriting and interpretations of current life as we know it.
Some thundered with salvos of anger, like local metal band Lilith. Some responded with perhaps their most significant songs, such as alternative rock band Itchyworms.
The Pamphleteers?
They sing and rage somewhere in between with Ciudad’s Mikey Amistoso lending a helping hand as arranger and instrumentalist. Whether Santos reaches the depths of a dark place or Cruz gets well, hoping that something good can still come out of it all, “Two Novellas” is oddly touching. And it’s worth listening to during those moments of introspection.
And who knows, the Pamphleteers, by channeling the late lo-fi rocker Elliott Smith, the haunting Laura Marling or the famous folk rock band Bright Eyes, you might discover a deeper meaning to where we are at this point. of our lives.
“Two Novellas” was engineered and mixed by RJ Mabilin and mastered by Ely Buendia. Both singles are now available on all music streaming channels.
