Vietnamese Indie Music 2024: From Six-Eight Poetry to Japanese Rock

Hành trình tiếp theo của ban nhạc Ngọt để đi sâu hơn vào cõi tâm tưởng của ảo giác và những trải nghiệm thoát trần — Sweet's next journey into the realms of psychedelia and out-of-this-world experiences

The music side is less flashy but the core inside is sometimes more worth discussing.

Continuing the psychedelic rock spirit that was laid down in the album Gieo two years ago, the EP Suyt 1 , released at the end of February, is the band Ngọt's next journey to delve deeper into the realm of illusion and otherworldly experiences.

If Gieo sometimes sounds like a smooth "translation" of The Beatles' music in the late 1960s into the language of modern Vietnamese indie music, then with only four songs co-written by two members Vu Dinh Trong Thang and Phan Viet Hoang, Suyt 1 shows how Ngọt breaks away from the influence of their idols.

01 Unfinished Story

Almost 1 starts with 01 It's easy to get carried away with fantasies at the simplest level, which is the fantasy of love, and it's clear that both the music and the lyrics are reminiscent of the time when Gieo was made, with similar lyrics like "Sorry, for holding your hand in my head."

By 02 Dreaming of Being a Ghost , the level of illusion has been raised to an out-of-body experience when the lyrical character finds himself suddenly flying up and becoming invisible.

The electric guitar, the pounding drums, and the impulsive duet between Thang and guest rocker Tho Trauma pull us further away from reality. The abrupt cut at the end adds to the effect of being lost in space.

Then, 03 Hay proved that Thang is truly one of the best lyricists today with his experimentation with lyrical six-eight verse in rock, even utilizing the pronoun "minh" - "toi" and the technique of contrasting the scene of other people's houses and the scene of our own houses, which is familiar in Northern folk songs.

For example: "There is space on your side/ There is so much space on your side/ I love my house, it only has three rooms/ One room over there, two rooms over here/ I love my house, it only has this much/ Or is it okay to just think about this much?"

Meanwhile, 04 Burning Incense and 05 Burning Paper Money show that one does not necessarily have to rely on traditional musical instruments to create a contemporary folk atmosphere.

Even adding a bamboo flute here or a zither there might not necessarily give it a contemporary folk feel.

Here, Ngọt's electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and the saxophone of artist Quyen Thien Dac create a jazz fusion song that continuously changes from the initial solidity to the drifting, ethereal end with Thang's "spirited" singing.

Then the chanting sound blends with the improvisation of brass instruments, completely consistent with the content of the song about a grave-sweeping ceremony. At first it seems very realistic, but when the incense burns in the mist, another world appears.

Before Ngọt, another indie band, Chillies, also released a product that was less experimental but also ambitious, the single Đại lộ mặt trời , with a version featuring Morisaki Win - the lead vocalist of the Japanese band PrizmaX.

The MV "Sun Avenue" uses footage from Chillies' Tokyo, starting with the Shibuya intersection - a symbol of an energetic urban space, coinciding with the spacious musical space in the song.

Still the sad love stories that made us love Chillies from the beginning, Sun Avenue has a bright, optimistic melody, reminiscent of the once-famous Japanese idol rock band flumpool.

Collaborating with foreign artists brings a new feeling but is not easy. If not careful, it can create the feeling of a cultural exchange.

But for Chillies, collaborating with Japanese artists seems like a natural progression, as their music has long been influenced by Japanese rock in the 2000s, when the rock element was toned down and softened, moving closer to pop.

Whether the Japanese journey succeeds or fails, the band has pioneered a new path.

With no behind-the-scenes stories or elaborate media plans, the indie music dinner is pretty much all about one thing: music. But when the main course is so good, there’s no need for appetizers or desserts.

Indie faces of Vietnamese music

TTCT - Over time, artists through the Internet - or rather through the documentary heritage of the musical past that we have inherited with difficulty until just a few years ago - seem to be finding their own voices more clearly.

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