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LAIR (pronounced “lah-eer”, a local dialect for the Indonesian word of “lahir”, meaning “birth” or, roughly “being born”) is a 6‑piece psych-soul/funk outfit hailing from Jatiwangi, West Java, Indonesia.
Formed in 2018, LAIR’s music, lyrics, and its presentation are vivid, inherently gaudy (in a good way), and honest, taking a sizeable chunk of inspiration from classical/traditional Panturan Tarling, a form of now-grassroot musical/performance art popular amongst the people of a certain areas in the northern coast of West and Central Java.
From the reimagining of their hometown’s past glories, the band, along with singer/songwriter Monica Hapsari (she also co-wrote and co-compose a number of songs of the album), sings about the rituals and traditions of harvest, to sending off prayers towards their once-prospering land and the ruins of what was once a dense forest in Jatiwangi, which they are currently trying to reclaim while racing with the massive wave of industrialisation. It is a contextually-sorrowful album as much as it is a candid, cheery commemoration of the band members’ everyday life in today’s northern shores of Java, Indonesia.