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Jakarta Post

Pop outfit D'MASIV experiments with electronica, hip-hop, dangdut on new album

Felix Martua (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta
Wed, March 9, 2022 Published on Mar. 3, 2022 Published on 2022-03-03T10:20:08+07:00

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Team up: The album's first track Sinema features singer-songwriter and novelist Fiersa Besari (second right).
(Courtesy of D'MASIV) Team up: The album's first track Sinema features singer-songwriter and novelist Fiersa Besari (second right). (Courtesy of D'MASIV) (Band management/Courtesy of D'MASIV)

The band's seventh album TIME sees the band incorporating new elements into its commercially successful pop-rock formula.

It seems like D'MASIV has achieved everything that any mainstream Indonesian band strives to achieve. In 19 years since its formation, the band—consisting of Rian Ekky Pradipta (vocals), Dwikky "Kiki" Aditya Marsall (guitar), Nurul Damar "Rama" Ramadhan (guitar), Rai Dinata (bass), and Wahyu Piaji (drums)—has racked up chart-topping hits and sold-out tours while delivering some of the most notable songs of the 2000s and the early 2010s. One of its signature songs "Jangan Menyerah" (Don't Give Up) went so far as to receive an Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI) Award for Best of the Best Song Production and Best Pop Song in 2010. In all likelihood, they have climbed, quite possibly, every mountaintop in the Indonesian music industry.

Be that as it may, here they go again: On Feb. 25, D'MASIV released its seventh album dubbed TIME. A skeptic would be inclined to ask: Why?

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"We're always hungry," declared Rian to The Jakarta Post. "We always feel like every time we make new music, there's this different kind of verve. I mean, when we create something, we see it as no different from a ritual. A journey of spirituality. For us, music is more than just an occupation. It's kind of like our means of worship. We always feel like a kid again whenever we make something new."

New, indeed. Instead of doubling down on the mellow pop sound that catapulted it to stardom in its early years, D'MASIV decided to use TIME as an opportunity to explore sonic territories that were previously uncharted by the quintet, ranging from R&B and hip hop to arena rock and dangdut-tronica. While the band solely handles the album's production, it also invited a few adventitious guests along its journey, such as Fiersa Besari, Feel Koplo, up-and-coming rapper QoryGore and pop-rock band Geisha's current frontwoman Regina Poetiray.

Return to music: Indonesian pop band D'MASIV released its seventh album 'TIME' on Feb. 25. (Courtesy of D'MASIV) (Band management/Courtesy of D'MASIV)

The journey so far

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