Rusty Machines release debut album, Making Friends.

Rusty Machines release debut album, Making Friends.

by rick olivares

When life gets in the way… one can come away either for the better or worse. In the case of indie rock band Rusty Machines, a more mature sound isn’t so bad.

The quartet recently dropped their debut album, Making Friends, under that ear nectar of an independent label, Wide-Eyed Records (Ang Bandang Shirley, The Strangeness). And they brought a few friends in for the ride – the members of label-mate Ang Bandang Shirley, indie pop songstress Nikki Nava, She’s Only Sixteen’s Roberto Seña, Oh Flamingo’s Howard Luistro, The Strangeness’ Paolo Arciga, and Nights of Rizal (Migi de Belen). 

The indie smorgasbord aside, it doesn’t detract at all (like Santana’s Supernatural that featured guests ad infinitum) from Rusty Machines. 

Making Friends took the band – vocalist and guitarist Iggy San Pablo, guitarist Joshua San Andres, bassist Leandro Fabregas, and drummer Miko Miso – two years to complete as each of the four members is working. 

In between releases, the quartet has become a tighter unit musically. 

Their debut EP from 2014, City Lights, bristled with new wavish energy. Making Friends slows down and gives off this wistful twee bent; anoraks and all. It had me thinking of the Acid House Kings, Club 8, and all those Swedish twee bands that exploded across the indie world towards the end of the 1990s.

And maybe too that is part of the charm of Rusty Machines -- the sounds of yearning given a polished sheen by producer Ean Aguila (of Ang Bandang Shirley).

San Pablo confessed that he changed it up quite a bit for Making Friends. “What I had in my head was different in the final product,” he fessed up. “Thinking of the structures, it didn’t have that Rusty Machines identity. So I had to let go and allow the band to write their parts.”

After the first three tracks, Strange Things, “Roam Error,” “Sunner,” and “Strange Things,” the band gets going with “Trying too Hard” that showcases the band’s chops. “Fear of Change” features that old energy that the band is known for. And when the band shifts to faster gears they perform better; much better.

Having said that, sometimes I get the feel that the lack of San Pablo’s vocal range holds the band back. Maybe though this part of the charm of Rusty Machines’ sound.

And Making Friends is that album you listen to. Filled with introspective songs bathed in shimmering delight.