Potret's minimalist sounds refresh local pop music

Potret's minimalist sounds refresh local pop music

By Helly Minarti

JAKARTA (JP): The philosophy of "less is more" is well applied
by Potret, a local band whose latest hit Salah (Wrong) has been
dancing around the top of the Indonesian pop charts for the past
few weeks.

Three people form the group: Anto Hoed, bass guitar, Arie
Ayunir, drummer, and Melly Goeslaw, vocals. But fewer people does
not equal less substance.

"We like to be minimalists in sounds and scores, and simply cut
the flowery way of playing music as well as in writing lyrics,"
said Anto.

Anto, 33, and Arie, 34 -- both look much younger -- have been
good pals from way back. Melly is Anto's wife. The idea of
setting up their own band came in 1994, when the three worked
together as supporting musicians and back-up vocals for Katon
Bagaskara's solo album.

In 1995, they produced their first album, Potret (Portrait),
by themselves.

"It was done quickly, only two weeks of recording, due to
budget constraints," Anto said.

Though they only sold 60,000 copies, Potret enjoyed a
distinctive spotlight in the Indonesian pop scene. In a sea of
trendy, complicated tunes, they startled audiences with their
striking minimalist music and risque lyrics.

Their first hit, Terbujuk (Seduced), tells about a too-honest
material girl's confession: kurayu dirimu/ku pikat dirimu/ku buai
anganmu/kamu pun terbujuk/semua yang kuberi/hanya kamu
seorang/hanya semata agar aku terwujud/yang kumau hanya satu/isi
di balik kantongmu (I woo you/I entice you/I caress your
dreams/you are seduced/all that I give/to you alone/is only to
realize/ the one thing that I want/is what's behind your
pocket).

This risque pattern is repeated in their newly released second
album, Potret II, which took them only a month to record. Again,
they play with light tunes and mischievous lyrics, which are well
thought out and arranged. Salah, for example, is about a girl who
cheats on her cheating boyfriend, while in Mak Comblang, a girl
tells how she gets a crush on a boy whom her girlfriend has asked
her to pass love letters to.

It's only been a month since the album was released, but
65,000 copies have been sold, more than the total sales of their
first album. This time, pop music fans are not questioning
Potret's style as they did with their first album. Instead, the
fans are entranced by the band's simplicity and
straightforwardness.

Once being the subject of criticism because of their lyrics,
now, they are adored. A flock of teenyboppers swarmed around the
stage in Bandung, where they played recently. While the lively
Melly simply stretched the microphone out to them, they sang
along to every line of Salah, screaming the lyrics in delight:
slalu ku bilang/aku tak sebaik kau fikir/tak pernah ku nantikan
kamu/ku cinta kamu bukan berarti/ku tak mendua/sayang kau nilai
aku salah (I've always said/I'm not as good as you think/I've
never waited for you/I love you but that doesn't mean/I've always
been faithful/darling you've misjudged me).

"It's the simplicity we crave," said Anto, who, at one stage,
lived in Paris for five years.

Simple music and simple words. This does not mean less musical
instruments. "Sometimes we use lots of instruments if we have to,
but we minimize the sound by simplifying the way we play," Anto
said.

For Arie, who also plays drums for Simak Dialog, an emerging
young jazz band which plays more serious and complicated tunes,
Potret has become an adventure.

"Perhaps because I have played enough complicated tunes, this
makes me want to play something simple; simple but still
something," said Arie, who has a basic drum set consisting of
bass drum, snare drum and cymbal, for Potret.

Though they do use keyboards when they need a melody, guitar
is always their first option.

"It's easy for us to create the guitar sound in our mind since
we both play the beat tunes -- bass and drum. Once we agree to
it, we use a proper guitarist to play them," he said.

Arie studied music at the Jakarta Arts Institute before he
continued his studies in an American college.

On their second album, Potret is accompanied by some of
Indonesia's best guitarists as well as other musicians to create
every song's character. Guitarists to lend their expertise
included Dewa Budjana, from Gigi, Tohpati, from Halmahera, and
Raidy Noor. Indra Lesmana, on piano, played on Bunda (Mother).

While Anto and Arie shared the job of arranging the music,
composition was handled by Melly, the daughter of singer Melky
Goeslaw.

"Melly seems more comfortable singing her own songs. Besides,
she's really captured the band's character," said Anto.

Melly commented: "To be minimalist in music is a deliberate
concept, but the creation of the bold themes in the lyrics is
something spontaneous."

"When I wrote those songs, I was just expressing what came
into my head. It was all a matter of coincidence," she said,
explaining her songwriting.

Potret's refined style may come from the trio's long-time
careers as professional musicians and singer. Melly has been
doing many backup vocals for various artists on stage and in
recording studios. Anto and Arie, who meticulously designed the
album's cover and sleeve, have played with various prominent
musicians with rich music backgrounds.

"I have played bass for many popular artists, from Titi DJ and
Katon Bagaskara, to experimental musicians Inisisri and
Saptorahardjo. I've even tried playing dangdut," Anto said.

Arie, whose genuine love is the blues, has shared stage with
big names like Indra Lesmana and Iwan Fals.

The trio has just shot its third video clip, Bunda, following
the simple, yet much-applauded Salah and Mak Comblang. The
fourth, Trocadero, is scheduled to be shot in Paris, in December.

Even though they do not plan to hold a promo-tour, their
schedule for November is already filled with gigs at schools, on
campuses and in pubs. Having once being called a "small
distinctive spot" in Indonesia's pop music scene, Potret seems to
have become a phenomenon.