KEMBALI

The good news is that Butterfingers, the godfathers of local fringe rock, plan to make music for ever and ever. The bad news is that fans, along with SHANNON TEOH, have to wait for it.

ABOUT 4½ minutes into Daulat Tuanku, Emmett puts up his hands and says, "Ok, jumpa lagi di lain hari... ku akan kembali (Ok, see you another day, I will return)."

When at first it sounded like a farewell befitting an album named Selamat Tinggal Dunia, it is now revealed as a promise, rather, to be back.

And on the precisely entitled and delivered Kembali, the follow-up to their first Malay album — delivered after a decade of plying their trade in English — they're fulfilling that promise, wrapping up the loose ends of the past 15 years and moving on with what they cheekily call the "second era" of Butterfingers.

Principal songwriter Loque (or Khairil Ridzuan Annuar), 30, has brought back home even more learning from Berklee College of Music in Boston and believes that musically, Kembali breaks new ground for the band, after five full length releases.

"Yeah, it's more precise but more varied. We've eliminated rock and power chords and there's a more open sound. We didn't compose by trial and error, it's more deliberate, more harmonious, yet much simpler sonically," Loque said.

Stuff like the allegorical art of Urusan Seri Paduka Baginda won't be found on Kembali according to Loque, who has, instead, used distractions like Kapal Selam's garage-pop and Monoloque, his solo electronic project, to exercise the rest of his musical muscles.

"This is Selamat Tinggal Dunia's mirror. Ten precise maybe rushy songs. It's a bit raw, and bit sharp but that's part of the idea. Sonically we kept it simple, no studio wizardry, no late-night overdubs. But it's still experimental in musical terms."

Emmett Roslan Ishak, the frontman, pipes in: "We had to learn to be less greedy and not try to stuff all our ideas in. It's a little rule: we were limited to one track each. We couldn't do layers and layers of guitars and vocals and all that, although on the side some soundscapes did sneak in. But everyone knew about it... kind of."

The band waxed lyrical about Kembali many times during an interview on a pouring Saturday evening, with many metaphors being drawn.

"Kembali is no regrets, bitterness or complaints. It's moving forward. Kembali is to stop pondering and to just get it done.

"With Selamat Tinggal Dunia we wanted to leave, leave our bodies but now we're floating back down to earth. The band's back, we're playing together, it's a return to forever. It doesn't mean we're returning to make a mark. We're returning as people, as musicians.

"Selamat Tinggal Dunia was one of our darkest hours. Kembali is 100 per cent sunshine, happy, full of love. Before it was Kabus Ribut now it's Terus Terang," concluded Loque using song titles from the respective albums to back his claim.

Words like simple, straightforward and pop were being thrown around when describing Kembali but if this is the start of a new era for the band, who've already shifted close to 150,000 records in Malaysia alone, where exactly is this era headed?

"As we continued to record more albums, we realised they're all with different ideologies," explains bassist Mohd Fakharudin Mohd Bahar, who has the rather unfortunate nickname of Kadak.

"Yeah, Loque's writing all the stuff now and our direction is very dependent on him. But all our albums have been different because a lot of external stuff affects our music. Even things like inflation and the price of goods. I think our albums will continue to be one per cent Butterfingers and 99 per cent Malaysia."

That link is probably most profoundly expressed in a track called Merdeka, which is basically a keroncong song (the traditional folk music form of Indonesian origin) that has been literally electrified by the band.

"Usually, people will convert common forms like joget but we wanted to do a music form that was a bit, or well, a lot different," offered Loco (nobody calls him Noor Haffizal Rashid any more, it seems), at 35, the only band member who isn't a 30-year-old.

"Keroncong is popular among older folks, which is why we brought in Pak Kassim Masdor. We reached out with a Malay album, so now we want to reach older Malays. We're gonna make young fellows feel old and old fellows feel young. It might be a viable commercial move because old people have money to buy our CD with their pensions," he joked.

Pak Kassim Masdor, now 70, is a veritable seniman who's shared the limelight with the likes of Tan Sri P. Ramlee and whose piano-playing has led to over 400 songwriting credits.

But all these developments don't overcome the biggest stumbling block in recent years. That is the estrangement of the band members due to 9-to-5 jobs, families and studies.

Right now, the fact that Loque is in the States most of the time means that they can't rehearse, jam or gig except during his holidays. It's come to the point where the band had just 10 days in the studio last August to lay down all the tracks for Kembali.

Yet public anticipation of any new Butterfingers material is unforgiving of the band's circumstances. Nobody really cares if they haven't been jamming together for two years. A Butters album is a Butters album.

"We don't have a presence when Loque is away and we can't gig in support of the album," admitted Emmett. "But that's why we have loads of video clips for Kembali. This is a new concept we're trying, which is to have a video for each song. Seven are done and just need to be edited. By June, we'll do another two and in August, just before the album is launched, we'll have videos for all 10 tracks. It's not ideal but it's the best we can offer in our circumstances."

Loque will be back in August for three weeks for gigs in support of the album. But beyond that, they are hoping that the videos, word-of-mouth and especially the Internet will get the word out.

The first video single will be out this month with plans to release one each month until Merdeka — song and day — coincides with the album launch. While hopes remain that it'll screen on TV, the most certain avenue now is YouTube; after all, it'll be on-demand, the exact opposite of what has been rather scarce appearances by the band these past few years.