Premiere – Mascot – Realiti
Malaysian Midwest Emo unit, Mascot will be premiering ‘Realiti’ music video tomorrow 8pm Malaysia time. Realiti is taken from their upcoming full-length ‘Nostalgia’ slated for mid 2024 release. We had the chance to speak to Aiman, vocalist/guitarist on the theme and idea behind Realiti MV and Nostalgia album.
“We started talking and writing demos for the new record way back in late 2022 at the tail end of our tour. Zi and I had a lot of talks on how we wanted to follow up Permulaan and the energy around it around October that time. I remember it was a week before the Final Exam show at Moutou, I was at Kafei Dian in Petaling Street with a notebook and I just started scribbling down ideas and tried to map out what this new record would feel like.
And it kind of dawned upon me that as the band was growing up at that point, so am I. The following year was the year I turned 27 and this year I will be 28, 2 years closer to 30. It’s that process of realizing you’re so far removed from teenagehood and life before the hyper-digitalization of the world, is what shunned me into crafting the theme of Nostalgia. Like you wake up one day and you realize you’re not a kid anymore and it really sucks.
That’s where Realiti comes in as the introduction to this record, an opening of the eyes to what was and what is.”
When asked about influences that shaped the record, the band comments:
“We’ve mixed and matched so many styles in this record that it’s hard to pin point one music reference but it’s like a hotpot of the usual Midwest tropes like Hot Mulligan, TMP, American Football, mixed in with a bit of Paramore, One OK Rock, Goo Goo Dolls, David Nail, and even a gospel-inspired ballad somewhere in the record. This time we wanted to have a diverse palette of influences to shake the usual formula.”
And lastly (or rather, a spoiler alert), the significance of ‘Apa Saja Mampu Ku Buat’ line in the new record, Aiman shares:
“It essentially started in the Penutup EP with a line from the title track. It pretty much stuck because it described the sense of “pasrah” or helplessness that resonated so well with so many points in our lives that it became an anthem. Like an ode to the rough seas of life, so to say.”
Enjoy!
