#yourimaginaryfriends

Two things: he can pass off as Jesus and he has a pink guitar strap.

Standing at about 5'6" in his Morrisey shirt is the bronze-skinned, curly-haired front man of the indie band Your Imaginary Friends, Ahmad Tanji.  Right at the start he clarifies the proper pronunciation of his name being Ah(k!)mad and offers a more … sultry alternative, specifically on the first syllable. Of course, you know what I mean.

Currently taking up his masterals on Clinical Psychology along with a day job and a family, Ah(k!)mad is doing one hell of a balancing act. Add having a band into the mix and you wonder how everything's not falling apart yet. According to him, it's all about a question of passion. And with starting a band, inexhaustable passion's gotta be a pre-requesite.

  Ah(k!)mad filling the room with his pleasingly youthful voice. And see, that's his pink guitar strap I was telling you about.

Creating an Imaginary Friend

It all started with four friends uniting under the need to make awesome music along the lines of the Pixies flirting with Nirvana and Weezer making self-depreciating comments to Death Cab for Cutie, all in a world where The Smiths is God. Thus formed Your Imaginary Friends with Ah(k!)mad on vocals and guitar, his brother Khalid (no exclamation points there) on lead guitar, Em Aquino on bass and Eric Po on drums. Four years passed and they're still happy "just like a married couple," quipped the Jesus look-alike.

Their first album, "One Dreamy Indeterminate Hum", is a five-song EP. The title alone highlights some quirks of the band. "We just wanted to sound witty," explains Ahmad, pointing out the words as a line from Edgar Allan Poe. And witty they do try to do with wordy lyrics and interesting topics, as far as I've determined from the songs he performed for us on class.

Imagine a Singing Imaginary Friend

His line up for our class was as follows:

1. Oh, Liza

Quick descrip: Main song of the first album. POV of a 24-year old girl who's still a virgin asking "Am I getting my first kiss tonight?" The answer: one of the rejected titles for the song was "Adobo Kiss."

My reaction: The song had a dreamy air to it, like a drop-dead lovesick Jason Mraz on an acoustic guitar but without the playful rhymes and witty words.

2. Hey, Rowena!

Quick descrip: About Ahmad being a wingman, convincing a friend to fall in love. Story of the song banks on the idea of the stereotypical strong woman ("All the '-ist'") failing to find true love.

My reaction: By the second song, you kind of see a Taylor Swift trend to their song titles. Still not sure how I feel about that.

3. Baby, You're Going to Hell

Quick descrip: "It's supposed to be a love song but it doesn't sound like it."

My reaction: I actually like this song. I've never heard such spiteful words sung so beautifully and I've heard my dose of "S2PID LUV". Hope it's part of the second album. Speaking of which,

4. Your Silence is the Villain

Quick descrip: Main song of their second album, "Silence is a Villain."

My reaction: By the fourth song, I switched from thinking he sounds like Jason Mraz to Owl City. What's its actual relevance to this post, I don’t know.

It's quite obvious that second album is a far cry from the silly, child-like feel of ODIH (yes, I acronym-ed it). Even Ahmad himself said it's "noisier" and "grittier", echoing the natural process of growing up and it so happens that this album's all about the teenage angst phase.

  L-R: Ahmad, Em, Eric and Khalid trying (and failing) to contain their smiles. (Photo from: yourimaginarymusic.com)

(Musical) Foster Home for Imaginary Friends

Like I said earlier, inexhaustable passion's a pre-requisite for a band but so is inexhaustible money. It takes a lot of moolah to record even just one song and after all the hard work, bands find their stuff being downloaded for free? That's just gotta hurt. So, if you like their music, let's help our imaginary friends get their music out there more by pre-ordering their second album.

Other sites for your perusal:

            I believe that good art and good expression is rooted closely from being in touch with your emotions. It’s not an easy thing to do, but vocalist of “Your Imaginary Friends”, Ahmad Tanji seems to surely know how. His passion reflects with his music and his whole outlook on the Filipino music scene.

            Ahmad visited our journalism class last Tuesday, September 18, 2012 to perform a couple of the band’s hits and talk about their upcoming EP. Right off the bat, you sense that their songs have a very new wave feel. Besides the “Morrissey” shirt he had on for the performance, he later on explains that The Smiths and the like are the band’s major influences. For this day, he performed his songs “Oh Liza” and “Hey Rowena”, which come off Your Imaginary Friends’ first EP, “One Dreamy Indeterminate Hum”, which was surprisingly released 2 years ago. He also performed “You’re Going to Hell”, and my personal favorite, “Your Silence is a Villain”, which Ahmad says, will come out in their second EP entitled its namesake. Personally, the performance was great, and the feel of the songs hit the ears just right. You can really tell that the guy is serious with his art, as he shared that he and his brother started music at a young age

The “indie” band 

            Indie, in its technicality, really means unsigned with a major label. He shares that being an indie band is tough, and that also they are affected by piracy. He says, “It only helps in the start. It helps with popularity. But that also means we’re not making money.” He shares that an hour in the studio costs around 700-800 php, and sometimes it takes them up to 10 hours in the studio, just for one song. That’s the advantage of signed artists. They have a label company covering their recording expenses for them.

OPM is NOT dead 

            The past few weeks have been filled with online discussions and debates on whether or not Original Pinoy Music (OPM) is dead. I asked him whether or not he agrees with the whole notion and he said, “I don’t believe OPM is dead”. He quickly adds, “…to people looking for good music.” He says that there are a lot of “hidden gems” in the Philippine music scene, and that there are a lot of bands where when you listen to them, you would say “Bakit hindi ito ang pinapakinggan ng mga tao.”

            That is how I feel about Ahmad and the rest of Your Imaginary Friend. I visited to their website and listened to the rest of their songs posted on their site. I really love their sound, and I am sure a lot will do too. I was telling myself, if the likes of Death Cab for Cutie are so famous with teenagers nowadays, why aren’t they?

By Miko Miso

For more information on Ahamad, and the rest of Your Imaginary Friends: