Discus – …Tot Licht!

(Musea, 2003)

…Tot Licht! is Indonesian progressive rock group Discus’ second release; their first (aptly named 1st), from what I can gather was more of a jazz rock album. What immediately stands out on this album is the myriad of different instruments, sound changes, languages, and vocal techniques used; not only throughout the album, but also within each track.

Lead track System Manipulation starts off with a blend of wind and string instruments before introducing progressively heavier guitars, bass, and percussion. A sudden stop has the song change direction and the first set of vocals from the lead female vocalist are heard. Her calm, soothing vocals are later offset by the lead male vocals of Iwan Hasan; he manages to seamlessly shift his style which sounds like it has been influenced by heavy and fast rock bands from the 1980’s, persuasive punk shouts, deep heavy metal grunts, and distinctive hair metal shrills are all included in his repertoire.

The live show captures both the beauty and madness of Discus; however the album is well produced and sounds very polished putting an emphasis on the musicianship as well. The long list of instruments used includes a heavy use of clarinet, flute, saxophone, violins, and keyboards, while a harp-guitar and rindik also make an appearance.

There are only six songs on the album but they range in length from five minutes up to the epic final track, Anne, which clocks in at just less than twenty.

Verso Kartini, Door Duisternis Tot Licht! is 12 minutes of music mastery, sounding like a man creeping into a posh home; growing more comfortable and making himself at home, he listens to the stereo and watches a movie before falling asleep. The single female owner of the house soon awakes to find the movie’s credits rolling on her television and a strange man asleep on her couch. After the initial surprise of seeing him there the woman notices something beautiful about him. They fall in love and quickly move in together, but tensions rise between them and he is back out on the street again. It all ends happily though as the two realise they can’t live without each other and end up getting married. Note: the lyrics of this song are all Indonesian so I have no idea what the song is actually about.

Throughout …Tot Licht! Discus lets the imagination run freely, however the future of the band appears unclear as, sadly, co-founder and wind player Anto Praboe passed away last year due to a heart attack and singer Iwan Hasan has now left the band also. It would have been interesting to see how the group would follow up this eccentric album.