Local band sings about finding love on the MRT

Eddino Abdul Hadi
The Straits Times
December 23, 2016

Love can be found in the unlikeliest of places, even while riding the MRT. And that is the subject of Ariel, a song by home-grown indie band Take Two.

The quartet perform the tune in the second episode of the third season of ST Sessions, The Straits Times' online video series featuring rising talents in the Singapore music scene performing stripped-down sets live.

The video can be viewed at: http://str.sg/st-sessions

Guitarist Tan Peng Sing, 27, says: "It's about meeting someone attractive on the MRT - or public transport for that matter - and trying to gather the courage to talk to that person or risk never seeing him or her again."

Formed in late 2012, Take Two became prominent in the indie scene here when they won the Noise Singapore Music Award in 2014.

The band were mentored by former Great Spy Experiment frontman Saiful Idris in Noise, a creative mentorship programme by the National Arts Council.

In the ST Sessions video, frontman Paddy Ong explains that music is more than mere entertainment for the band, which also comprise bassist David Siow and drummer Jeryl Yeow.

Guitarist Johnathan Lim, who plays in the ST Sessions video, has left the band.

"Music helps us find the truth of whatever it is we are feeling," says Ong, 28.

"I feel that this is something that has not changed in the millennia that has passed since we discovered music. It's the human search for truth."

The band also play In Your Arms in the video, a tune about how "you always keep coming back to a certain person or certain place", says Ong.

ST Sessions' third season is part of a series of digital video programmes under a partnership between the Info-communications Media Development Authority and Singapore Press Holdings.

The new season, which kicked off with singer-songwriter Theodora last week, features eight acts, and a new episode will be launched every other Friday.

The Straits Times

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