2020 POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE LONG LISTED DEBUT ALBUM, PANTAYO, OUT NOW VIA TELEPHONE EXPLOSION
WATCH AND SHARE “V V V (THEY LIE)” HERE
BUY / STREAM PANTAYO HERE
Photo Credit : Sarah Bo // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Earlier this week Pantayo’s self-titled debut album was long-listed for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize. On the record Pantayo explores what’s possible for contemporary kulintang music with the atonal blend of kulintang ensemble instruments with vocals and electronic production. Today, the band shares the new video for album track “V V V (They Lie)” from director Diana Lynn VanderMuelen.
“‘V V V (They Lie)’ comes from a place of growth, pride, and defiance,” the band says. “In this karaoke music video, we imagine an uplifting New Earth where there is abundance and liberation. A hopeful world created as a result of dismantling white supremacy, fighting the lies of colonialism, and ending fascism and the oppression of marginalized peoples. A world that symbolizes positive change and is possible with our collective willingness to evolve, grow, and do better.
We're so excited to work with Diana Lynn VanderMeulen as she draws from her experience of world-building to render an environment that reflects our vision: a summery world filled with flora endemic to the tropics (jasmine, bouganvillea, hibiscus), all connected by bodies of water.”
WATCH AND SHARE “V V V (THEY LIE)” HERE
Out now on Telephone Explosion, the self-titled debut album features eight diverse songs speaking to Pantayo’s musical influences as queer diasporic Filipinas. Produced by Yamantaka // Sonic Titan’s alaska B, Pantayo was written and recorded from 2016-2019 in Toronto.
Pantayo is an audio diary of how the ensemble has grown together as writers and performers. The songwriting process started with members workshopping and performing traditional kulintang pieces from the Southern Philippines, often instrument-switching on the kulintang, agongs, sarunays, gandingan, bandir, and dabak. Adapting kick drums and synths to the modal tuning of the gongs further expanded Pantayo’s ability to incorporate modern musical expressions such as punk and R&B. “If you listen to the recordings of our rehearsals and songwriting sessions, you can hear us deconstructing the kulintang parts section-by-section and practicing our songs in different styles” says keyboardist and vocalist Eirene Cloma. “You can also hear how close we’ve gotten and how our creative workflow strengthened over the years.”
Grounded in the interpretation of kulintang music, Pantayo can be a vehicle for discussions around diasporic Filipino identity. All five members have different experiences of settling in Canada and with that comes their relationships with music. Kat Estacio, co-founder of Pantayo, says “One way that we can make this world feel like home for folks like us is to mix the kulintang music that we learned with different sounds and song structures that feel familiar to us."
