New duo 'Air' a shift for ex-Pas member

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): The economic crisis, combined with the current national political uproar, hasn't seemed to stop pop music from evolving. In fact, there is still enough space for newcomers to give it a shot. This has been proved by Air (meaning "water") -- a sibling duo of guitarist Bengbeng and singer Shinta.

It all started late last year when Bengbeng, the guitarist of the band PAS, compiled his songs and found that some of his more poppy tunes would be too sweet for fans of PAS, an alternative band known for their hard sound.

"This (composing those songs) is just something I do outside PAS," said Bengbeng, who writes all PAS songs in jam sessions.

With a desire to play something different from the band's usual repertoire, Bengbeng searched for a vocalist. And the idea of a duo entered his mind. "Like Sweden's Roxette," Bengbeng said.

He invited a half-dozen singers to try his songs. None appealed to him. "They were all undoubtedly good -- perhaps that is the problem. They used to sing in pubs, churning out Top 40 stuff which makes them sound not too natural to me.

"Besides, instead of giving their honest opinions whenever they didn't feel good with my songs, they improvised with it," said Bengbeng, the fifth of seven children.

It never occurred to him that the musical partner he was looking for was as close as home. That was when he heard Shinta -- his youngest sister -- sing along to her Alanis Morissette album.

"It was her morning ritual, every morning at 6:30, she put the tape up loud and sings the songs her way while I sleep in the next room. Imagine how I have to deal with that after a long night doing gigs," recalled Bengbeng, giggling.

But Shinta's raw style -- not even trying to mimic Alanis's signature style -- finally captured his ears. So, to her surprise, he offered her a trial.

The two then made a demo and offered that to three major labels. They picked a name for the group: Air, out of nothing, on the way to the record company. The three companies gave an instant nod, and sooner than they knew, they signed a three album deal with Sony Music, which agreed to realize the first album soon.

As a member of PAS, which has the reputation of being the first indie band in Indonesia, Bengbeng is a familiar face on stage, while Shinta is a student of a state university in their hometown, Bandung.

"Shinta's only experience is singing in her room. She once sang in a vocal group, but left. Maybe they couldn't use her voice," said Bengbeng, joking.

Shinta, who appreciates the music of Morisette and Edna Swap's Anne Previn, was brought up in a musical environment in the family -- their late father, Sudjono, was a keroncong aficionado, her mother, Sri Yanti, was a singer and youngest brother Trisno (the sixth child) plays bass in PAS.

Their first single, Bintang (Star), a childlike number delivered in a witty video clip, quickly made its way up the chart. Its easy-to-remember lyrics soon became a teenybopper chant. And since its release in February, Air has reached promising sales of 75.000 copies. Now they are about to start shooting their second video clip.

Ten out of 11 songs on the album were created by Bengbeng, who also arranged and played almost all instruments on the record, while credit for the lyrics went to Shinta and friends.

"Basically I love all kinds of music, including the sweet ones. And I want to be able to make various compositions, not only in the rock genre as in PAS band," said Bengbeng, a college graduate majoring in agriculture.

He grows his love on 1970's rock legends Led Zeppelin, yet he also admires pop groups like ABBA. "Their song Dancing Queen is one of the best cuts in pop," said Bengbeng -- a statement that will certainly surprise PAS' mosher fans (dancing zealots who throw their whole bodies around in front of the stage at gigs).

Air recently finished radio promos in some cities and performed in big venues like Fashion Cafe and Hard Rock Cafe in Jakarta. They are now preparing a one-month promotional tour, scheduled to start soon after the June 7 elections.

In their last show, Shinta seemed more relaxed communicating with the audience compared to her few shy words a month before. Shinta said she didn't have the usual stage fright.

"I was more afraid of disappointing him (Bengbeng), if I could not get fans to react like they used to at PAS gigs," Shinta confessed.

Bengbeng says this is nonsense. "Air is like a start-over for me, I don't relate myself as a member of PAS band when I play for this duo." he said.

Though considered few in number, PAS fans are a dedicated crowd who turn the band's gigs into non-stop mosh sessions.

"But I am fully aware that we play for a different audience. I just want her to be herself and be at ease with that," Bengbeng said.

While music has been Bengbeng's life for years, Shinta is still baffled by her brief pop life. While enjoying a decent dose of local popularity ("Some people on the street recognize me or suddenly they just hum our song, Bintang.") yet she's still far from settling herself into a music career.

"I'll let everything roll, one at a time," said Shinta, who now juggles her schedule between shows and campus.

Air is indeed light, poppy and sweet. Yet Bengbeng's music -- predictably guitar-fueled -- brings some substance to the tunes. Shinta's lyrics are light in their themes, yet her voice can belt out a harsher tune, such as in Life is Pain -- the only non- Bengbeng work on Air, an angst-ridden number tinted by the PAS- style music of Trisno.

Now, the siblings are trying to manage their musical days by putting Air and PAS under the same management. Shinta is pursuing her studies and guitar lessons, while Bengbeng has plans like making his own solo debut this year and "marrying my love of music and agriculture in a dream house in the village, next to a large garden and music studio".