#meig

Music is one of the hardest things to write about. After all, how does one write about falling in love, divorced, or broken-hearted?

“You should have to say Whatever's on your mind And I shouldn’t walk away Whenever there’s an avalanche

We were longing For summer rain But what lays ahead of us Only heaps of hurricane

Ooh oh Ooh oh Parting of the ways”

Listen to Meig - Parting of the Ways on Spotify

Our longtime collaborator, Rendy (A.K.A Flaneurship) came up with the idea that so many couples separated in the early years of the pandemic, circa 2020, which of course was caused by forced long-distance relationships. It’s a bit cliché if the theme of a love song is about separation, but we can’t help it.

This idea is in line with the main characters (DJ M) in the album “Sleep Whispers from DJ M”, in which DJ M is forced to be far apart across galaxies with his love. To record this song, we rented a house, wipe the old midi controller, and started recording the singles.

The year 2021 had just begun, and Indonesia was still chaotic about the pandemic. We hoped the band members wouldn’t be infected with such a virus during this hard time, like many others too in our neighborhood.

The “Parting of the Ways” for us is so related throughout the process because all the band members are separated by a city. Of course, Ananta & Ranti are living in the same house in Malang as husband and wife, but Rendy is in Semarang, Indonesia. The vocal track was recorded in Rendy’s apartment in Semarang, while the music was recorded in Meig Studio in Malang.

DJ M was the name Ananta chose as his pseudonym, originally. But over time, DJ M’s character became central in the story on Meig’s album (in the process) later called Sleep Whispers from DJ M.

“Please DJ all around the world, I need your help to find my baby”

Listen to Sleep Whispers by Meig

The song was, at first, packaged in the Rock-Shoegaze genre. But Ranti, one of the producers of the song, described it as “unpleasant and not pop enough”. In rehearsals, Ananta plays guitar with chords around the Eb major chord to the Abm, Fb and Gb chord that is identical to rock song progressions, and by adding a matching guitar melody lick, it’s still not enough to make this song “light and pleasant” to hear.

Then, by taking a different mixing step, plus re-taking all the guitar parts, this song ended up satisfying us enough to create something that was almost “shoegaze” and still pleasing to the ear. Ananta is also the vocalist in this song, and the vocal mixing in this song is designed as close as a sleep whisper, like the title of the song.