Pastel Lite is Eff Hakim and Mohd Faliq, and they’ve been making waves in the local music scene since 2012. The KL-based experimental duo is best known for their album, Balada, a fresh and bold shift from their usual electro-pop tone to taking a few steps back into a more nostalgic, dreamy, new-age sensibility.
To date, Pastel Lite has performed both locally and internationally, opening for some of the biggest international acts that have descended Kuala Lumpur, such as Tame Impala and The XX.
At #YSDAF2018, the band is going to transform the stage into a dance floor. So join Eff and Faliq as they jam out tunes from Balada. But before that, why not get to know them a little better? Here’s Eff answering our questions:
Eff:
We met when a friend of ours introduced us on Facebook, and Faliq had asked me to go over to his studio to talk over our plans.
At that time, we didn’t even know we were going to be a band. But then, we started jamming to a few songs, and began discussing our favourite bands – and we happen to have a lot in common. So we decided not to waste this chemistry we had. It’s such a rare thing to meet someone for the first time and to be able to talk freely about music, and ultimately make music with them.
When we were producing Heart Drum, we called ourselves Pastel Lite at the last minute, just so we could have a band name we could put under the song we released [laughs].
So it ended up becoming viral, sort of, at the time. And we kinda stuck with the band name, for nostalgic reasons.
According to Eff, Pastel Lite’s production process varies from time to time. It can involve Faliq whipping out a riff or chord for Eff to sing over, or Eff recording her vocals from home before sending the tracks to Faliq for further refinement.
Eff:
The themes for Balada were really reminiscent of the ’70s because at that time, I was going through something very personal – my father passed away. Once, I went through his phone and realised he had this amazing playlist of ’70s and ’80s bands: Abba, The Carpenters, The Bee Gees…
Initially, we didn’t really know how to put them into our music. But we’re also big fans of international acts that use the formula of blending new-age music with electronic and a little bit of nostalgia pop – like Lana Del Ray or Tame Impala. So, we decided that we could try something, and make a very new-age, ’70s-ballad pop music.
Damsel is the first track in Balada, and Pastel Lite’s first ever music video. The experimental pop duo’s impeccable chemistry helps set the tone as to what we can expect this #YSDAF2018!
Eff:
There are so many interpretations and so many opinions about music. So, I think if there was such a thing called Psychic pop– in which, you could psychically let people synchronise with you when you make the song– we would make it. I would like to make a song where everybody would just uniformly understand what we’re trying to go at.
Join Pastel Lite this #YSDAF2018 on 18 & 19 August — 3:00PM to 3:30PM on 18 August, 7:00PM to 7:30PM on 19 August — at Pentas 2, klpac.
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