Tohpati

This album marks the debut of Tohpati’s work as a versatile guitarist in jazz corridor. Well, jazz inevitably conforms a great deal upon his performance, to say the least. The song that takes an honor to be in the first queue is #1. Not only the title itself sounds very liberal, the composition has also a body moving taste. Jazz funk style pre-dominates the track’s musical orientation. The tension grows challenging as it is supposed to be in the first verses. #1 comes through its very determining part not until the chorus, where the melody, although sounds quite cliché, does not undermine the harmony people vote unanimously in almost every jazzy tunes. The chorus also marks Tohpati’s role in forming melodic acoustic line. To conclude this session only, it is very agreeable that the song choice to be the punch line is way perfect. 

Tohpati’s decision in organizing song lineups in the album has not set the wrong foot as the second song comes by. Land of Gods, provides a very divine and comforting sounds just as the title literally means. The repetition synchronizes well with rhythmic melody composition. And then the deep and wide felt-like musical background draws an eventful listening experience. The main melody of this song is brought by tender vocal sound. Layang-Layang is quite an ambivalent track, in terms of it embraces two less likely harmonic elements. The composition tends to get closer to free jazz style. However, it is brought by an arrangement that renders a vivid sense of samba. Nonetheless, the harmony is passable, due to the extreme collaboration fortunately does not ruin the delight. In addition, percussions hold significant part in nicely decorating the track. 

Now, I really talk straight of how a focused jazz style should have been, as it is in Let’s Dance. It exemplifies a sublime feel of smooth jazz. The rhythm flows deliberately. Bass and drum oriented beat undertakes a special emphasis to the song foundation. The chords and lyric are prestigious and cool. The repeated trumpet sounds decorates the song in a classical fashion. The rising tension in the middle of the track or it may be considered as interchanging part, poses the heart of Let’s Dance. Well sung by Glenn’s soft vocal attitude, the particular core part could jump into impressively, before the chorus, currently taking one key lift up, gets on repetition. This is the album’s best standpoint I consciously approve of. Sendiri represents the famous acoustic play of Tohpati. Entirely locked up in guitar melodic lines, he builds a contemplative harmony that frequently counts in his future songs. I call them the boring parts of Tohpati’s works, among other explicit terms: less intriguing, less attentive, or could be down turning, harshly speaking. Simply putting it the same assesment, Khatulistiwa implicates similarly to the frustrating section in Sendiri. Regardless of boredom as a possible reason behind my undervaluing over the two paired up songs, I could barely see the bright side of them. 

Lahamuluala as the following song can offer a bounce back expectation compared to previous one. It starts with a very common melodic line, but the composition for general picture compensates the odd. Tohpati leads the melody shoulder to shoulder with a vocal which can sound very discrete. Country plays a definite country rhythm in the intro verses, before it gets conversed to slow rock arrangement as well as chord progression. Surprisingly, both styles are on the same boat once it reaches the middle session, and another right at about the end. What a smart music making. A funk style appears for the second time in the album as Menanti rolls. With showed off diatonic chorus, and a long-winding improvised acoustic melody in advance, the song points out the basic direction of Tohpati’s premiere album.  At last, Lukisan Pagi puts an end to the album. The song, which has an identical composition to Land of God, and only undergoes a change in the lyric, reminds the listeners of what they have passed in the beginning. Not bad for an idea.