Sugar Hiccup finds Closure with vinyl release of last album

Sugar Hiccup finds Closure with vinyl release of last album

by rick olivares

Dream Pop band Sugar Hiccup released the vinyl version of their fourth and last album Closure, last Saturday, June 1, at 70s Bistro in Quezon City.

Closure was released on December 30, 2017, at 12 Monkeys in Pasig City, supposedly, the last show ever by Sugar Hiccup. The sales from the compact disc as well as the merchandise funded the production of the vinyl version that was pressed in Ohio, United States of America.

So the quartet – guitarist and vocalist Melody Del Mundo, guitarist and vocalist Czandro Pollack, bassist Iman Leonardo, and drummer Mervin Panganiban – have returned for their last set of shows before – this time – it is official finished.

“It’s not only a bucket list thing for us to release Closure on vinyl,” explained Pollack. “We realize how weird it sounds, we released album on the second to the last day of 2017 then disappeared. The sales of the album that day aside, it isn’t the best way to go out.”

“This is the best way,” he added. “With a series of shows (at 70s Bistro, Route 196, and in Cebu) with the vinyl, compact disc, and merchandise for the fans. And the album sounds really great on vinyl with all our music really coming more alive – or so Iman tells me.”

It seems that the stop-starts have been a part of the band’s history.

Sugar Hiccup released two best-selling and critically-acclaimed albums in the 1990s – Oracle in 1995 and Womb in 1998. Then the band seemed to end at the height of its popularity when Del Mundo went to the United States.

Eight years later, in 2006, the band returned with their third album, and a new lead singer in Bea Alcala, for Tongues and Thoughts. Not soon after the album was released, the band went through another implosion with some internal issues and the album, like the music they play, floated into the ether.

Then came the reunion with Del Mundo and new bassist Leonardo and Closure.

“This is really it though,” pointed out Pollack with a smile. Whether the tone is with finality is anyone’s guess. After all, just when we thought we had seen the last of Sugar Hiccup, they returned. 

“But I am working with Melody on some new things.”

Pollack says the music they are making is similar to Sugar Hiccup, but it is different. 

Saturday night at 70s Bistro, the vinyl flew off the tables with fans packing the venerable old rock club along Anonas Street. Remarked Leonardo, “I think dito pa lang, bawi na kami.”

“Three hundred records were pressed and we hope that we have enough for the remainder of our shows,” said Del Mundo.

Playing the record, it does sound great. It was mastered well and sounds good. 

One new fan, Reddy Galang, who literally lives a stone’s throw away from 70s Bistro, went home to listen to the record and returned to have the band sign the album jacket. Beaming, Galang gave it a quick review, “I went there to buy the record for my brother who couldn’t attend. I can hear some ticks and pops and medyo mahina yung volume. Other than that, I like what I hear. Bass is tight especially on ‘Brushed Away.’ Vocals are at the center of the mix and all instruments are balanced. Overall, a very good pressing and I can say, ‘tunog plaka’ siya. I decided to get one myself.”

When told of the fan’s reaction, Pollack smiled back. “Then this is a really good way to say goodbye.”