Album Review: Maki's Kolorkoaster Leans into Catchy, Colorful Pop Tunes

Local indie-pop cool kid Maki dropped his debut full-length LP after already putting out some of the catchiest jams such as “Dilaw,” and “Saan?” in the past year. His debut record spells more of his accessible laid-back pop revolving around universal experiences of love and romance.

The Tarsier records-backed LP is a short 10-track project with a simple rainbow-themed concept with nearly every song named after a hue in Filipino. Think of the hit animated Disney-Pixar tearjearker Inside Out. 

While the record is filled to the brim with head-bopping and catchy tunes on , we found the concept and songwriting to be far too inoffensive and could have engaged listeners more emotionally. While it could have been an Inside Out-type of experience, it falls short of having a poignant pay-off. We did enjoy a handful of the upbeat and pristine indie-pop stuff in the LP, which we will get into shortly.

The tracklist is a compilation of P-Pop/Kpop sounding R&B and pop, rock fusion tracks that would be guaranteed radio hits on local airwaves, but it could also have been a more fleshed-out conceptual project.

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Looking back at his 2023 EP Tanong (Question), which spawned his ever-catchy "Saan?" or occasionally called the QC/UP song, Maki seems to have a penchant for easy-to-follow album concepts that seems magical on paper.

But what makes Maki such a compelling artist is his silky smooth vocal chops and relatable and affable persona as an artist. Our first foray into his music was back in 2023 with the song “Kailan?” from his EP where he kept asking questions.

He had that boyband-flair and sappy songwriting over pop-rock production in a presentation that is sure to go over swimmingly in the current landscape of local pop artists such as Cup of Joe and the ultra-talented SB19.

“Saan?” was another early Maki track that we were fond of due to its straightforward songwriting and production that wasn’t just another bland, derivative “hugot” love song.

So let’s dive into the pop tapestry Maki paints in Kolorcoaster.

The Sonic Shades Within Kolorcoaster

First off, we gotta talk about the cover art that strangely reminds me of a classic Filipino animated film I really loved as a kid, RPG Metanoia. The image depicts who we could  only assume is an anime-inspired version of Maki or his persona in the record holding a ball of hues and lettering resembling magazine cutouts.

Kolorcoaster kicks off without a hitch with "Namumula,"  an anthem to adolescent/ teenage romance that is reminiscent of songwriting found in the OPM classic "Ligaya" by Eraserheads. The opener roughtly translates to turning red and is a cheesy love song that tries to hit you full force from the get-go.

"Di ko nagawa ang project ko/ Pero 'yong sa'yo at sa kapatid mo, ginagawa ko," does evoke that relatable Eraserheads songwriting spirit, though don't get us wrong, this track is nothing like the Eheads sonically. Still, it's a strong opener and sets the tone for the record moving forward with a catchy hook and a melody that rings true to Maki's earlier hits. Straightaway the song showcases the 25-year-old's vocal abilities.

"kahel na langit," which is the orange track, slows it down a notch from his boisterous entry and is a more understated, comforting song, not unlike a warm embrace.

Maki heavily doubles down on his inner yearner here, with hopeful vocalizations and background vocals scattered throughout.

Even the dramatic guitar lines, lead tones, and powerful drum hits sounds like it came straight from '90s' love songs and sappy Filipino romantic comedies. Despite all these, we see this as one of the record's strong points as a track with chart-topping potential.

The album's third track  "Dilaw" is Maki's claim to fame and for good reason. It's just a euphoric track that feels like his lightning-in-a-bottle moment.

It would be great to pick the singer's songwriting brain to see if he wrote the album around this hit song or if it was the other way around. It's just so recognizeable at this point, spawning a slew of covers and a viral music video featuring P-Pop royalty Bini Maloi, whose girl group is set to rock Coachella as the first Filipinos to ever do it in April next year. 

The single carries the record heavily as a butteflies-in-your-stomach pop rock banger that is on its way to being an iconic tune and a probably a videoke staple.

We then get a rare English track from Maki in "turning green," which is an intriguing spin and where we get to see how his songwriting switching up in another language.

The track, which is just over a minute and a half long, feels more electronic in production with what sounds like programmed drum-machines and sparkly synths and subtle guitar stabs. The green metaphor he goes for is lost on us, though, and ends rather aprubtly and loosely transtions into the next song. We wished for it to be more fleshed out and for Maki to develop the green metaphor a bit more and for him to beef up the song's structure.

"Bughaw" is a more guitar-heavy track, which we would normally be excited about, but felt-like a run-of-the-mill pop track leaning on a plain chord progression, but Maki makes up for it with an energetic vocal performance.

The artist then gives us another English track with "Indigo (with u)," a welcome introspective track from the singer about his fears of loneliness and loving someone again. The production exudes vibes of a lot of synth-pop era with the likes of joan and LANY. The hook does have that recall value: "With you, indigo, and you go/ Anywhere you go, I go." Though the rest of the songwriting does leave us wanting more in variation and maybe a few more figures of speech.

"Nangungulila,"  is a more somber rock tune, a departure from the color theme, which I feel could be one of his more popular tracks in his live shows with a chorus that just demands audience participation "Hindi ka, hindi ka, hindi ka, hindi ka sa akin." The track however, seemed to be trying too hard to be a heartbreak anthem.

"itim na ulap" is the obligatory acoustic track of a lot of indie-pop albums, complete with organic rain samples, and that home-recording quality that many would find endearing. We do give props to the production on this track since the guitar sounds full-bodied, and flute intermission that sounds traight out of the Legend of Zelda. We could see the appeal of a raw track such as this but it didn't really appeal to us as much as other acoustic introspections tend to do.

We then got spooked by the rather tasteful jazzy drum fills heading into  "Abelyana," another favorite on the record with a great recurring rhythm guitar and a catchy main synth melody. Maki also shows off his vocal flexibility in impressive vocal runs that aren't overdone or contrived. This is Maki at his best for us and his most replayable track along with "Dilaw," over his more poppy stuff that he also ends his album with.

Maki then closes out the with the full color spectrum "Roygbiv" and we can't say we're big fans of it with pretty plain pop-production.

Overall, Maki's debut record has its shining points, especially with "Abelyana" although we still yearn for more sonic, lyrical exploration and some variation in his future projects. If he leans more into his ability to create more emotional and groovier tunes such as the jazzy stuff and even earnest tunes such as "Dilaw in Kolorkoaster, he could churn out more compelling records in the future and we're here for it.