Named after “a multi-coloured pudding” from the Philippines, Halo Halo instantly transported me back to the first time I heard “Typical Girls” by The Slits while stompin’ around Indian Trail Junior High School in my fake Payless Doc Martens. However, instead of listening to a band whose output ended before I was over watching The Popples, Halo Halo are just beginning.
A trio made up of multi-instrumentalist Rachel on vocals, Jack on percussion, and guitarist/multi-instramentalist Gill, Halo Halo are a dance-sinawi-pop trio based in London. Sinawi, a traditional type of Korean music improvisational in manner, is customarily used during Korean shamanistic rites. Drawing inspiration from this metaphysical improv musical tradition as well as maintaining a progressivist 1990s K Records sensibility with a 21st century DIY kitchen sink ethos, Halo Halo have fused together their very own unique pop sound both exciting and vigorously fresh.
Halo Halo’s approach to song structure is playful while at the same time deftly realized. “Manananggal” is shamanistic post punk feminist dance music (and maybe its very own genre) at its finest . The same way that first hearing The Raincoats felt like a revelatory experience, there’s something about it that sounds as if it has travelled a very long distance to reach your ears and tell its tale. The first time I heard it, it felt a bit like discovering an arrowhead unearthed in a field being freshly plowed to prepare for the installation of a new, bland strip mall. Halo Halo are able to channel this sense of urban tribalism without things turning at all forced or insincere. This is music that manages to genuinely explore the mechanisms put in place between daily life and our inherent connection with nature teaming all around it.
“Sunshine Kim!”, is a joyful, celebratory B-Side to “Manananggal.” Whereas “Manananggal” is the mysterious, brooding dark side, “Sunshine Kim!” is its hoppy, energetic, spazzy sister. It is music that practically commands movement from the listener from the first resounding beat! With such promising work so early into their band project, there is much to look forward to from Halo Halo.
The debut 7″ was released earlier this year. M’Lady Records in Portland, Oregon will be re-releasing it Stateside in 2012. The band also has plans to record an EP via Local Kid in Bristol later in 2012. You can purchase their 7″ via their Bandcamp page.
