EP REVIEW: TIM ÄWÄ – s/t
From my own perspective, my goal for the entire year was to explore different soundscapes in different regions of the country. For months, we’ve received numerous requests and submissions from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. It was overwhelming to see a bunch of acts reaching out by letting their music heard. Thanks to the internet that made us contact one community and another. I myself couldn’t imagine what a music community is like somewhere on the outskirts of town. Earlier this week I received a message from the Quezon Province and I received an EP from a female soloist who calls herself TIM ÄWÄ, who happens to play post-rock and some bits of drone and math rock here and there in this project.
Lately, I’ve been on the academic dumps as of late and I needed to listen to something that could ease off the slump off my chest. Maybe post-rock is the answer of my longing stress of the city life and maybe it’s time to sit down and give this post-rock project a shot.
TIM ÄWÄ is a solo project of Zephra Lagos, a songwriter and instrumentalist based in Lucban, Quezon Province. Recently she just released her self-titled EP a few weeks back in her hometown. Based in the photos of the launch that I’ve seen online, it came to my surprise that the Quezon Province has an ongoing music community. This reason alone fuelled my excitement to hear the project.
The first track of the EP “LBRT” starts off with a Slint-esque guitar riff, then the production broadens as it progresses by the next minute with guitar noodling and TIM AWA’s hymn-like vocal harmonies ascending in the latter half of the song. The first song right away blasts through your headphones once you start play, we’re off to a great start. The second track “Tad-am”, meddles with the distorted sound of the lead guitars panning from left to right. The track was built mid-paced, adding the calming atmosphere. It’s one of those songs in the EP that could’ve been capitalized for its beauty and not for its interlude like entrance, maybe this track would be better if it was 6 minutes long.
The third track “Lio” has this math-rock influence to it. The airiness of the track reminds me of the earlier days when tide/edit was rising in the scene. Each element brought here section by section is utilized very well and not for just complete guitar wankery. The bass and the drum bring in some strong dynamic in the track as well. Which leads up to the next track, “Erin”, where the entire sequencing felt like it weakened the momentum just for a little while because I personally think that the guitars here just felt too thin and there is this part where the track just stops smack right in the middle and that I think is really unnecessary if you’re aiming to raise the bar high as much as emotion in a drone/ambient/post-rock track has. That to me is a really important element in an instrumental song. The last track in the EP, “Tu Is”, goes right back where it left off. The heaviness of the guitar along with the bass have this great chemistry together as it reaches to the very end of the track.
Overall, I liked the ambition being presented in this project. There are times where moments like the slow-fast parts midway through the tracks connect really well and there are times where the momentum just didn’t reach to an upper slope instead we have a plateau of dynamics not getting that much build or rather not going anywhere engaging. This EP has a ton a potential, most especially to the guitarist herself, Zephra, who did a wonderful job at taking the songwriting in a creative path. With likeable songs in the first 2 or 3 tracks except for the latter half that didn’t really go anywhere that could surpass the first few songs. TIM AWA was able to create a universe of her own in 5-tracks in less than 20 minutes. But the packaging itself was lacking any climactic moment and it was disjointed at the same time. Nevertheless, a very talented act from the North, I hope to see her live soon in either her hometown or somewhere in the Metro. Let’s see.
Support the art & the artist: https://timawamusic.bandcamp.com/album/tim-w