RAd the music blog: Down to Mars Album Launch

Kiro, Yheen, Kenji and Jang

Jang, Daisuke, Sky, Yheen, Jeongwon, Kenji and Kiro, collectively known as Down to Mars have been a group for about a year now. With members having a mixed Asian lineage (part Filipino and part Korean, Japanese, Chinese or Taiwanese), the group brand themselves as Inter-pop as an answer to the K-pop groups that have been dominating the region in recent years. And just in time for their first year anniversary, the group finally launched their self-titled debut album at Dolce Superclub recently.

Jeongwon, Sky and Daisuke

Their album, distributed locally by Polyeast Records, is really an EP since it only has six tracks consisting of five new songs and one remix. All of the tracks were penned by group members Kenji, Jang and Jeongwon. The upbeat numbers O, Oh Here We Are, Fly, Fool’s Paradise and the lead single My Everything were arranged by Jimmy M (Jimmy Muna) who has collaborated with Jay R and Kyla before. His arrangements brought a more sophisticated and European influenced sound that made up for the run of the mill lyrics of the said tracks. Clearly, the songs were made for dancing and not to showcase the group as poets. The lone ballad Nandito Lang Ako is also the only song in Filipino in the album. This track highlighted the singing chops of the two strongest vocalists in the group: Jang and Jeongwon if I’m not mistaken. It is a decent ballad when heard on its own but the rather conservative and generic arrangement by Bobby Velasco made this track feel a tad out of place and very old fashioned compared to the other tracks in the album. The fast numbers dared to explore a sound not normally heard in OPM so it’s a bit of a downer that the ballad went a few steps back and stayed on the safe side. One thing that sets Down to Mars apart from the others is that they write their own material which is a credit to them. Some of the members told me after the launch that they have songs already in the bag that are just waiting to be included in subsequent albums. The success of their debut effort will determine the fate of their future albums. But based on the deafening screams by the fans that were present during the launch that also served as a fans day afterwards, I think that hearing their other songs is very likely in the future.

During the launch, Down to Mars also premiered their music video of My Everything featuring Marian Rivera. The boys also happily announced that they are headed for Korea this July to take part of the celebrations of the said country’s National Day. They hope that this upcoming gig will enable them to penetrate the lucrative Asian market. The album was still hot off the press during the launch and the members of Down to Mars only got to see the album for the first time when I showed them my copy. It was priceless to see their reactions as they gazed in awe at their CD and looking at their profile cards for the very first time.