Ely Buendia’s New Album is ‘Officially' His First as a Solo Artist

While releasing new music is nothing unusual for singer-songwriter and former Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia, it’s been a while since he last did it as a solo artist. His solo debut, Wanted Bedspacer, was actually released 24 years ago.  

This week, he is following that up with a new full-length LP, Method Adaptor. Two singles from that album have already been released: “Bulaklak sa Buwan” and “Tagpi-Tagping Piraso.” 

“I wanted to do something new,” Buendia said during a press conference at the headquarters of Sony Music Philippines. “And the only thing I haven’t done was a solo album.” 

What about Wanted: Bedspacer? The artist said he doesn’t consider that an “official” solo album.

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“Kumbaga, laro-laro lang ‘yun,” he explained. “Nag-experiment ako sa kwarto ko, then I decided to release it.”

The title of Method Adaptor relates to how the album was conceived, and the process by which Buendia overcame minor writer’s block and learned to be creative again—a method he adapted. He wrote the songs in the album over the course of a year. He considers Method Adaptor, then, as his official solo album.

Bouts of self-doubt

Buendia admits shying away from writing and releasing new material as a solo artist for a time due to undue pressure from Eraserheads fans. There was even a point where he asked himself, “Should I even be doing this?”  while writing songs. Soon enough, he realized the timing was right and relented on releasing a full-length album.

The artist said his favorite track from the album is “Bulaklak sa Buwan,” which he feels pushed his creative boundaries to make the song more meaningful. Most personal to him, however, is “Tagpi-Tagping Piraso,” which speaks of his own heartbreaking–albeit unromantic–experience. Both singles have music videos uploaded to Ely Buendia’s YouTube Channel.

The music video for ”Tagpi-Tagping Piraso,” was created by  Glitch.Asia, which is a new-age video production company that utilizes virtual production through the power of CGI, augmented reality, motion capture, and other ultramodern filmmaking techniques that make the process more cost and time-efficient without undermining traditional methods, such as integrating real-life and animated components. 

Buendia said most of the songs in the album are thematic and touches on personal subjects. In a way, he’s still telling stories, but now more subtly and symbolically. The songs represent a portrait of himself, hence the portrait of Buendia on the album cover. 

Writing for his audience

When asked whether he still cares about what people think of his work, he gave a straightforward answer: “I would be lying if I said I didn't care about what people think because I think music builds empathy with one another. I mean, I admire artists who really just do it for the art or for their own satisfaction, but I find more satisfaction in communicating and being able to somehow touch audiences until now. You know, that's the reason I do it. I mean, I can write songs for myself, but what will be the point of that, right, if it's just me who’s enjoying it?

“So kumbaga, this album is sort of, again, reaching out to that community that I was sort of in,” he added. “And parang just saying, ‘I'm still here.’”

Other ventures

Buendia’s schedule has been quite full. Aside from a global tour with the rest of the members of the ‘Heads and producing his new album, he has also been busy with his independent record label, Offshore Music. He has also gotten into writing screenplays to keep his creative juices flowing.

Owning an indie record label, apparently, isn't as easy as one might think.  

“I always thought that being an independent record label was the goal, and the end-all, be-all of everything,” he said. “I'm independent now and I think I’m doing what I should be doing, but then you realize coming from that, the shoes of record labels na parang, you see the other side of the coin. It's not really an easy thing to be a record label so I did kind of appreciate those major labels. I mean, they've been, I guess, vilified forever for being exploitative and all that, and some of them are—let’s be truthful about that. But some of them are really fans of music. And I guess it's just a matter of choosing the right people and choosing what’s right for you.” 

There will be a an album launch for Buendia’s Method Adaptor. Presented by Gabi Na Naman Productions, the launch will be held at 123 Block in Mandaluyong City on Friday, November 8. Gates open at 7 p.m. Sharing the stage with Ely Buendia are other artists under Offshore Music, namely, Ligaya Escueta, ALYSON, Carousel Casualties, and Aviators. Pre-sale tickets to the event are available via bit.ly/elybuendia123block 

Method Adaptor the album will be available on all major streaming platforms starting November 8. Follow Offshore Music and Gabi Na Naman Productions on Facebook for more info.