Sugar Hiccup returns to say hello… and goodbye.

Sugar Hiccup returns to say hello… and goodbye.

by rick olivares

If you are a fan of dream pop/shoegaze music, did you ever think that the purveyors of that sound – My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Lush, and Slowdive would eventually return from their heyday in the 1990s to become conquering heroes in this second decade of the new millennium? No, we didn’t, but they sure did and how.

Did you ever think that Filipino dream pop/shoegazers Sugar Hiccup who gave us a taste of the 4AD Records sound and style locally; whose music took us to glaciers, to east of the sun and west of the moon, would return as well? No, we didn’t, but they sure they did in 2015 with shows here and there. But a full length album in 2017? They have and how.

It’s the old but new Sugar Hiccup. Melody del Mundo is back with her ethereal vocals that stretch the imagination. Czandro Pollack brings his shimmering guitars while drummer Mervin Panganiban lends that gentle touch on drums. And there’s new addition, Iman Leonardo, from the free-form alternative rockers Prank Sinatra to handle bass duties.

All four come together this December 30^th at 12 Monkeys in El Pueblo, Pasig, where they will release their fourth… and final album, Closure, and perform their last show as a band.  

Say that again?

Yes, the 30^th of December, 2017 will be the release date of the band’s final album and where they will play their final show. If the title of their fourth album – Closure – didn’t give it away then this article sure will. Hold that thought though. If you look at the cover art of Closure, (concept by Marcel Ramos with art by Aya Francisco) it shows a female face wrapped in flowers and seemingly at peace. Closure, indeed.

And the band is at peace with their decision.

Before we go extrapolate on that, we must look to the past when Sugar Hiccup arrived in 1995; like a feather falling from the stratosphere sprinkling pixie dust along the way. Watching them perform in the old Club Dredd was like sitting atop a glacier and watching the Northern Lights. Theirs was a sound that was a wonder to listen to. Like their heroes, the Cocteau Twins, the words to their songs were mostly inaudible and they wrapped themselves around lush instrumentation whose sonic landscapes took you places. Just the way they intended – you decipher the songs for yourselves and feel how the music makes you feel. That’s why it is called Dream Pop and shoegaze music.

The original outfit released two critically-acclaimed albums, Oracle and Womb, after which Del Mundo left for the United States. The band soldiered on with new vocalist Bea Alcala (now with Narcloudia) and released another incredible album titled, Of Tongues and Thoughts. However, internal problems saw the band implode. Alcala and Pollack left and a new version of the band emerged.

To talk about that time will remind you of how famed British author J.K. Rowling wrote how the wizarding community talked about the dark wizard in hushed tones and using the term, “hewhomustnotbenamed”. It is the same for Sugar Hiccup.

Yet, if you ask Del Mundo and Pollack, that is one reason why Sugar Hiccup – this version with old drummer Panganiban and Leonardo – returned. They do not mince their words. In fact, they cut like a knife.

“Going back to the build-up to this album,” continued Del Mundo right before band practice at 8 August studio in San Antonio Village in Pasig last Wednesday, December 20. “After we had our reunion, we didn’t plan to have an album out. It was more of regrouping and re-organizing the band with Iman as the new bassist. It was us recalling the songs and playing them again. It is about reinstating who Sugar Hiccup is.”

She paused to let the words sink in, “There was a blemish that happened in the past and the music was ugly. It was disrespected; the integrity, the music, the image of the band; one we worked so hard for. That is one reason why we reunited. Why we came up with an album? It’s leaving behind a legacy to erase that chapter. That wasn’t us. The new album, Closure, now this is us. This is Sugar Hiccup. This is the last image and music that we want to leave behind.”

Closure.

Let those words sink in. Closure is the coda to Sugar Hiccup’s incredible career.

“We never thought about selling thousands and thousands of albums,” extrapolated Del Mundo. “It was all about playing the music that appealed to us.”

Chimed in Pollack, “We don’t really care whether we play to a crowd of 10 or to a hundred or a thousand or more. It would be nice but we all came in with no expectations. Our reunion show in 2015 was a pleasant surprise.”

Del Mundo animatedly cut, “The magic was there. In our first rehearsal for our show at 12 Monkeys in 2015, that was at Penguin (along Kamias Road in Quezon City), the first song we practiced was “Siesyatnebonsoteicostolim” or “Awa” (from the 1896 Ang Pagsilang compilation album to celebrate the Philippines’ centennial) and it brought chills to me.”

“And to me,” exclaimed Pollack with boyish glee. “When we played 12 Monkeys then (at their old venue in Century Mall in Makati), we received a great reception. And that was a pleasant surprise.”

“The chemistry was still there,” noted Del Mundo.

Closure is still very much Sugar Hiccup. But it is different. You know different in the way that the new Tears for Fears songs from 2004’s “Everybody Loves A Happy Ending” to their newer songs “I Love You But I’m Lost” and “Stay” from the recent greatest hits compilation, Rule the World, are different from the sound they established in their first two albums, The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair.

The first single off Closure, “Saturnine Nevermore”, is an enchanting cousin of “Heeowa” from Oracle and “Who Tease” from Womb that takes you back to that dizzying and majestic heights the aforementioned songs took you to all those years ago. What I love about it is the simple but beautiful harmonizing by Del Mundo and Pollack. But again, it has that bittersweet feel to it. Loosely translated, it means feel sad no longer. We’re back. But we’re also saying goodbye.

“Brushed Away” sounds like something left over from Womb, but it has me thinking of Lush’s farewell EP, Blind Spot, that came out in April of 2016. Like most of the tracks on Closure, it’s a beautiful and slow piece that is a tad melancholic. And now in the wake of Sugar Hiccup’s closure, this album goes the way of Lush and Blind Spot – they returned and disappeared all too quick in the ether.

“Angels” is a song of yearning and wishing. Like many of the songs on the new album - “Saturnine Nevermore” and “Forbid Me Lullabies” included, it showcases the vocal range of Del Mundo that leaves you mesmerized. “If I could fly” indeed.

In the next song, “Dolour”, Pollack lends his vocals that has me thinking at times of Clannad.  

But the album as a whole has this feel of a lullaby album. Not to lull you into sleep, mind you, but how songs resonate well in the still of the night with all your senses attuned and you’re moved.

The album shimmers, soars, and fires the senses. That is what good music is all about. As such, all good things must come to an end.

If Closure is indeed the end of Sugar Hiccup that streaked like a meteor in the night sky and bathed the alternative 90s with its plethora of grunge, garage, and metal bands with an ethereal light, then as the Bard once wrote, then this parting is well made.

And 12 Monkeys in El Pueblo on the 30^th of December is the place to be for Sugar Hiccup’s Closure.