Squid 9’s Caramel Lights is a paean to dub music & a loved one getting old

Squid 9’s Caramel Lights is a paean to dub music & a loved one getting old

By Rick Olivares

Electronic act, Squid 9 is releasing a dub-influenced album titled Caramel Lights. 

There is, however, more than meets the eye when it comes to the new album. Aside from the love of Jamaican music, it is Squid 9’s Raymund Marasigan paean to the yaya, Carmelita Pagunsan, who helped his parents raise hi and his siblings as well as his own daughter, Atari. 

“Yaya still lives with me because she is family,” bared Marasigan who measured his words carefully. It hasn’t been easy. In fact, it too, has been an emotional time for the veteran musician. 

Yaya is feeling all sorts of aches and pains as well as illnesses associated with in her old age. Visits to the doctor have been periodic, not to mention, costly. And yet, Rayms does not spare any expense to help her live out the rest of her days in comfort. 

“She’s getting old and is deteriorating. Her memory isn’t what it once was,” he confessed with a sideward glance to yaya who is seated in the kitchen watching television. “And I am pretty helpless. The feeling of helplessness is one of the most difficult things. You want to ease the pain and make her feel more comfortable.”

“I can only do so much… I do not want to wallow in depression so I make music.”

Through all of this time, Marasigan has been producing reggae band We Got’s debut album. It has also rekindled his love for Jamaican music that was introduced by the British bands influenced by Caribbean nation’s musical export such as the Clash and the Police, and local bands such as the Jerks, Cocojam, and Spy to name a few.

Thus, the inspiration begat the new music from Squid 9.

And incidentally, the last two releases by Squid 9, have been personal in nature. Circuit Shorts that had a distinct Japanese flavor that was also at once a paean to band member Shinji Tanaka’s late father whose voice was immortalized in one of the songs.

The more recent release was The Rambient Tapes that was a “soundtrack” to the various dishes at Tanaka’s Crazy Ramen restaurant.

                    

Now, the trio (that also includes Marasigan and Darren Lim) is about to release Caramel Lights. 

For this new album of seven songs, Tanaka takes center stage with his vocal duties. 

“Shinji has a unique accent,” said Marasigan. “He’s Japanese and he speaks fluent Tagalog but with also a Visayan accent as his wife is from the region. Now we didn’t want to sound Jamaican or British. It is what it is – a weird Filipino or alien sounding dub album.”

Weird as it sounds, Tanaka’s imperfect vocals are actually perfect for Caramel Lights. And in many ways, it fulfills a longstanding dream to do something that involves Jamaican music. The Eraserheads flirted with reggae and dub. Marasigan’s current bands, Sandwich, Pedicab, Assembly Generals, and Basement Lung do not lend themselves to the genre by design. Yet in an odd manner, Squid 9 is best suited for Marasigan’s stab at dub music.

As much as Jamaican music – reggae, dub, ska, and rock steady – deal with themes of religion, social commentary, and living life to the fullest, one overriding theme is love. 

And Marasigan, through Squid 9, has written that love letter to the woman who raised him in the form he can best express himself. 

Caramel Lights will be out soon with Squid 9 set to perform the music, live.