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13 Seconds To Love

It only takes 13 seconds to love or hate a band…. That was the main theme for this new offring from KJWAN. And i have to admit, it would take take you only 13 seconds to love the whole album. This highly-anticipated follow-up to 2StepMarv was undeniably a change and a breath of fresh air on the music scene.

A little history of how i heard this band: I was browsing sandwich’s yahoogroups way back in 2003 and i saw this side band of Marc Abaya, who was then frontman of Sandwich. Kjwan was a catchy name and it was something new to the ear. As i was trying to grab a copy of either their album or some of their sample songs, i caught up with user jorelpogi on their group. Little did i know that it was Jorel Corpus (Kuya Jor as i still call him) humbly answered my queries about the band, and i also promised them that i would spread their sound on the campus where i was taking up my bachelor’s degree (De La Salle – Dasmariñas) and well enough, i got one person hooked to their sound. This is my now good friend, bandmate and former classmate Kristian (rock on dude!) and the rest was history….

Ok, let’s cut the crap on how i discovered the band. heheh! Let’s get on the review. As for some of you may know, 13 seconds to love was launched way back in February and it was preloaded on the new Nokia Xpress 5800 cellphones (lucky you people who got the phone, as i don’t have enough money to buy that phone) It took about 5 months before we can actually see a physical copy of the album. As soon as the record store i’m dropping by before i go home from work displayed a copy, i immediately bought the album and went straight home.

As i opened and listened to the album, i noticed 2 things. First, their sound was different from their previous albums and almost all of them sings in the album. Even though Jorel already left the band (he’s currently studying at Berklee) their sound remains solid. Probably because before Jorel left, the album was already done. Right now, Marc Abaya, takes on role playing guitars alongside with the rest of the band (Boogie, Kel and Jhoon) which is not bad after all.

The album contains 11 tracks and opens up with the title track 13 seconds to love, a groovy song that will make you move to your feet. It will be followed up by the hard rockin’ “What about us”.

One of the highlights of the album would be the next track entitled “Pause” which features boogie on vocals. It’s a slow song that talks about how a person would like to pause the moment he/she is with his/her loved one whom he/she misses. Nice lyrics and a potential track to be the next single of the album.

“Meron ba” features some of the guitar riffs that is really catchy to the ears. “Lifeline” on the other hand has to be Kjwan’s finest work up to date. It’s uplifting melody, inspirational lyrics and positive message only shows that kjwan is not only about rockin’ with senseless lyrics but rather they make music with heart and soul.

Sunny weather, Dance on the floor, Drowning, Complicated, Nasilayan and One Life  makes up the rest of the album.

Overall, 13 seconds to love is way way different than their self-titled debut album and 2StepMarv. I’m pretty sure that this album will definitely clear once and for all what kjwan’s sound is… raw, energetic, inspirational and pure genius. Some fans may miss the old sounds of their previous hits such as Daliri, Sa ilalim, Shai and Surface but that’s what music is all about. Change and evolution. I highly recommend the album for all of you who are looking for a fresh sound from a not-so-old band in the music industry. Im looking for Pause, Nasilayan, Drowning and Meron ba as future radio hits.