Ministry Of Releases Indie Rock's Bernuansa Debut Album, Reverie

Ministry Of release of Reverie's debut album (Photo: Doc. Ministry Of / Dennis Tumiwa)

JAKARTA - An indie rock unit from Jakarta, Ministry Of, released their debut album titled Reverie on Friday, April 25. This work finally launched after several tracks released since 2021 via the Fictional Records record label.

Reverie presents 10 songs that can be heard via digital music services. While the cassette and CD formats are available through the record label from the United States, Slang Church.

The Ministry Of itself consists of Yudit Halim (guitar), Ignatius Ryandika (drums), Ernest Theodore (vocals, guitars), and Gonzaga Sidharta (bas). The material itself has been written since five years ago.

Reverie was written from 2020 and recorded from 2021 to 2024. The recording was done iteratively/gradually because of the busyness of the personnel [lied]," said Ministry Of in a written statement.

They selected several recording studios to complete several processes; ranging from Fictional Studio, Studio Teras Behind, to Emic Etic Studio which involved Dimas Radityo, Johanes Abiyoso, as well as Pandu Fuzztoni as a producer and post-production.

As a result, Reverie sounded that she absorbed the energy of indie pop and dream pop in the 80s-90s to the contemporary 2000s indie rock. It contains typical jangly guitars, soft and melancholic vocals, and warm production links in lo-fi.

We are inspired a lot from indie rock bands 2000-2010s (Deerhunter, totalis, Jirapah, Broadcast, Real Estate) which seems to be inspired by 80s and 90s (indie pop) bands, yes, "they said. We love guitar music songs, trying to make guitar compositions that fill each other so that the guitar charts on several songs "Reverie sound inclined to arpeggio and jangly."

In the lyric department, the Ministry Of entrusts most of the process of writing it to Yudit Halim and some of them to Ignatius Ryandika to summarize the collective unrest they experienced in the quarter age. Reverie felt contemplative about feeling helpless when wanting to be free of will but the world did not easily agree.

As a group, the personnel have a harmonious perspective in freedom both in their work and ideologically.

Then we dedicate 'Freedom' to our friends who currently need freedom and independence the most, namely our friends in Palestine.

The song 'Freedom' itself is part of the next Ministry Of plan, which is to release it in a music video format. Then, in order to spread Reverie to a wider reach, they will undergo a concert tour with Subsonic Eye and Curb in June to Surabaya, Solo, Bandung, Bogor, as well as Jakarta. There is also a plan to release Reverie in a black plate format through Loide Records and work on its launch concert with Pesona Experience.