Syndicate Casually Drops A Brilliant 23-Track Compilation Of Songs Made During Lockdown

SEED contains contributions from 23 acts, including Anise, Bani Haykal and Deborah Emmanuel (Credit: Clarence Aw, Bani Haykal, Nydia Hartono)

Despite its incapacitating nature, the lockdown that plagued Phase One of the Circuit Breaker turned out to be a fruitful period for bedroom musicians and DIY producers. Highlighting this stay-home phenomenon is the revered Syndicate collective, making yet another statement with an experiment that it kicked off earlier in June while the scene remained dormant. The goal: To assemble a time capsule of tracks created during the lockdown, with no fixed direction or genre specification. In this clandestine hunt, Syndicate gathered 23 local musicians to share their musical musings, culminating in a vast compilation album titled SEED that’s out now.

Dropped casually and abruptly with little pre-launch hype, the Bandcamp-only album is a fascinating tumble into the alternative milieu of homegrown acts, with concoctions that challenge and visions that stray from orthodox predilections, much like the unfaltering philosophy of Syndicate for the last decade. “Here we are with the year coming close to an end. And here are 23 tracks we have amassed from what was initially a casual thought,” the label reveals in the album’s description. “Uncertainty still rules the day, but at least for now we know what uncertainty sounds like from the contributing artists. This is enough to keep us going.”

All 23 tracks are exclusive to the compilation, and even though there was no guiding principle in their formation, they still manage to follow a similar stream with mutual elements. With electronic cores and experimental anatomies, they still manage to provide a coherent voyage in spite of their fragmented origins.

The compilation features emerging experimental producers like Frinla (Credit: Courtesy of Frinla)

Territories within include the sombre, serenade-laced electronica of Anise on “Pedestal”; the trippy electro of OFTRT on “Dark”; the meditative, spoken-word sermon of Deborah Emmanuel on “Answer”; the loungey chill-hop of Fzpz on “triple sevens”; the dystopian, broken-beat terrain of Frinla on “Charging Apes”; the bleak, techno-percussive void of Cheryl Ong on “How to Overcome Chronic Boredom” and so much more.

Fzpz makes an appearance on this album too (Credit: Ungku Ibrahim)

Adding more complexity to this roster are veterans of the industry, including the lauded Bani Haykal and his ambient adventure on “midnight cycles”; and O$P$ with an experimental hip-hop barrage on “The Best” featuring Ijal and mickeyLEANO. Syndicate’s own talents appear just as prominently on this lineup as well, with contributions from key members Kiat with the trip-hoppy “Kiraz Tubba” featuring Theseus Chan; Cherry Chan who embarks on an industrial march with “Yoseki”; the eccentric NADA with their spellbinding, tribal-driven piece, “Tempat Panas”; KoFlow with a phasing future bass curveball on “Stay With Me” and others.

Syndicate member, KoFlow, drops a track for this collection (Credit: Dju-lian Chng)

And all this is just a glimpse of the varying textures and emotions that suffuse this compilation. SEED is living proof that you can’t kill creativity even when the scene’s at its most desolate, and Syndicate deserves a salute for making this clearer than ever.

Listen to SEED by Syndicate out now on Bandcamp. Follow Syndicate on their official website.