'Isang Pag-Ibig' by IV of Spades is a Time Warp

We're arriving just a little year and some change on the proverbial reformation of local alt-rock merchants IV of Spades, which culminated in a nationwide tour of their comeback LP Andalucia, which we previously dubbed as a 'no-skip album' and a masterclass of striking whilst the iron's hot.

You can consider the boys as the prodigal sons of the local music scene, as their dissolution as an outfit came at a very crucial time before they came into their own, respectively, through their solo projects and extracurricular collaborations.

It would've been wasteful to keep things unanswered or without the least bit of closure after a debut album that didn't even have them at full power.

The powerhouse rock group, with influences that consist of bands like the 1975, 70's era songwriting, the Strokes, and more evidently the Beatles, dropped a bombshell of a song in 'Isang Pag-Ibig,' during the tail end of their circumnavigation of our strange little peninsula and ahead of their forthcoming North American tour.

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With a discography that has seen a metamorphosis in style and varying levels of charismatic evolution, the quartet has a handful of unreleased tracks that are just begging to be fleshed out and recorded with the current iteration of the band that is held up by refined musicmanship and a renewed chemistry (some of these tracks include the explosive "Sentimental," "Spin the Bottle," "Black and White," and "Not My Fault)

'Isang Pag-Ibig' used to be one of those mythical deep cuts that really didn't need reinvention if it were to exist in the current local music sphere.

Official Music Video for Isang Pag-Ibig

The jangly overdriven intro to the track is a dead ringer for the sonic aesthetic that burst them onto the scene as they alternated between this warm alt-rock aesthetic and their short-lived disco obsession. Think of this track as something adjacent to "Mundo," "Come Inside of My Heart" (full band version), and "Take That Man."

"Isang Pag-Ibig" transports you to a different time, a sepia-toned celebration of the guys just jamming out as youngsters at more intimate venues like the beloved but now defunct Route 196 (RIP), Black Kings Bar, and B-Side the Collective.

The music video, though, sees vocalist and rhythm guitarist Unique Salonga trade in his Rickenbacker for a Gibson SG, and lead guitarist Blaster Silonga debut a Mk. Gee/Kurt Cobain leaning on a Fender Jaguar as the band plays on a condominium rooftop dressed in their trademark animal print and dressy outfits ripped straight out of secondhand store racks in Makati Cinema Square.

This run of music is an eye-opener that the boys are smashing through lost time the best way they know how: playing out of their minds.

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