New Rites Of Passage
The showband formerly known as Passage have re-styled themselves as an electronic group. Is it anything to rave about?

by Lionel Zivan S. Valdellon

published in PHILMUSIC.com: July 200

Can a tiger change its stripes?

Passage, the eight-year-old, six-person (formerly) mainstream pop showband that's been around for so long they've actually ceased to be news, has come out with a second album. (Their self-titled debut was launched an eternity ago, sometime 1995 and spawned the eternal hit "You Won't See Me Cry".) And dig this: their new sound is laced with techno and electronica.
___ Coupled with a wardrobe makeover and some slick marketing-- including a glib album tagline that goes: "Music is the Scripture. Dance is the Practice. Love is the Key"-- the group is now performing a whole load of originals and even cover songs that have elements of the new dance music: house, drum&bass, trip hop and acid jazz thrown in with their usual R&B/pop vocals.
___ The album was recorded under Neo Records, the more experimental arm of Viva Records, and is aptly entitled The Disco Project. You might be thinking, 'Project' as in, if this album doesn't sell, they can call it a creative experiment and then return to the tried-and-true pop formula?
___ Nope. Looks like this makeover's for keeps.

Live at Virgin Café

In lieu of the typical press conference, the band held a party/album showcase. So instead of questions about what their new sound was like fielded by inquisitive journalists, Passage invited everyone to come and listen. It was held last June 21, 2000 at Virgin Cafe, Quezon City and was an ample sampling of their new musical direction.
___ Sonically, they were marvelous. Aided by such devices as drummer Vic Mercado's Roland drum triggers, an extra Yamaha keyboard for guitarist Ira Cruz, bassist Patrick Almonia's minimal effects, and keyboardist Gilbert Espiridion's Korg keyboard and portable MP3 player (for some of the drum loops, probably), the band was able to play 80% of their album live for the first time. It sounded pretty much the same as their studio tracks.
___ Vocalist Mark Laygo and their newest member, the delicious 18-year-old Kath Agarrado were lively and cool, depending on the mood of each song, however lack of projection and enunciation only added to the mystery of the unfamiliar lyrics.

But all in all, the music was good. The band members seemed to be enjoying their first set filled with originals, before getting down with the more danceable repertoire in their second set.

Can the Real Passage Speak Up?

The question is: what is Passage now?

Their longtime manager Heinrich Ngo answered PhilMusic's queries over the phone: "Passage is still basically a pop band but with more of the electronic sound. It's not heavy techno, but more on the commercial side. So they might do covers of Moloko or David Morales, but also some crowd favorites like 'Horny' except with more of a house feel to it. Tanggal na ang mga '70s and '80s na covers. We've overhauled the songs so that it's more danceable, and it coincides with the new album's direction: Disco Project."
___ Though it may seem the band is riding a wave that may not last-something that's been a constant in the careers of major pop showbands who've swung with the times and played pop, retro '70s and '80s, then R&B in the past few years- Passage is now intent on seeking musical fulfillment rather than merely earning money.
___ First off, their new sound is a group decision. According to Ngo, about four or five years ago, the band was already thinking about changing gears. After all, though playing pop music (especially cover songs) pays handsomely, it hardly contributes to artistic fulfillment. Secondly, it's starting to look like the market is ready for something new. (In laymen's terms, people are downright bored with hearing Earth, Wind & Fire covers for the Nth time.)
___ Says Ngo, who is part-owner of the Malate live band venue Suburbia, "People dance and party to those familiar retro covers, but then they come up to me and ask why all these different bands play all the same songs all the time? That gave us the encouragement to pursue what we (Passage) wanted."

And just what do they want now?

The Project's Blueprints

From listening to The Disco Project, it is apparent Passage wants to keep up with the times, maybe last another 8 years while playing stuff which isn't boring and passe.
___ Electronic music purists will undoubtedly call Passage poseurs. Longtime fans might just be bewildered. Objective listeners will like the new grooves but will be confused by the eclectic array of styles, as if the band sampled each genre just for the heck of it.
___ But it is not a techno album, after all. It is Passage's first steps in the discovery of a new voice.
___ The best tracks are, without a doubt, the gripping acid jazz tunes like "Stay", "Interlude III", "Weak Freak" and "Into The Light". Funk and wacky bleeps contend with gospel choirs and wah-wah guitars. It's a smattering of D-Sound, Incognito and Dag. And boy, is this stuff funky.

Conversely, the other attempts at electronic music sound half-baked and half-hearted despite gorgeous production on the tracks, with some cut-and-pasted electronic touches sounding like mere afterthoughts.
___ The house tracks ("Come Into My World", "In The Moment", "Somewhere In Between") swing from Stardust fluffiness to starkly bad trance. The trip hop numbers "In The Hole" and "Questions" fluctuate from being funkier than Moloko to becoming Bill Laswell-like (dig that trippy spoken word performance on "Questions"). The lone drum&bass track "Ain't No High" displays the jazz of a Peshay but lacks the grit of a 4Hero. The samples are a bit too clean, the vocals often too polished, the efforts sometimes too stage-managed to be believable.

But there is something here. An attempt at branching out and finding something apart from the "ballad-remake" or the "jukebox hit". And if only for that, they should be commended.

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