MEET DOMINO : MANTIS

I recently meet an artist that no matter what happen, no matter what she had choose before, she eventually give in to what her heart desires; and that’s to sing . She may have the same surname with a famous artist, she may be a sister of this artist   but she is in her own right an artist herself. I was privileged to meet Lally Buendia.

The artist: This woman’s music career started in grade school, when she sang a Filipino folk song on stage. A few years after, she then recorded her first album “Fair Tales”, in which she realized that music was indeed her lifelong calling. She’s definitely no diva or pop princess though. If you see Lally Buendia aka Domino in person, you know that with her leather-wearing vibe and blunt, edgy ‘do, she’s sharp and feisty and she surely won’t sing you any love song. But worry not because she just might, in her latest album Mantis.

On Mantis: Two years in the making, Lally would write songs on days when she was on either side of her emotional spectrum. She believes this album is her unabashed attempt to come out and kick ass. She was also tremendously lucky to have worked with a motley crew of brilliant artists in the music scene – Ely Buendia (Pupil, The Oktaves), Pat Tirano (TOI), Jerome Velasco (Daydream Cycle), Jazz Nicolas (The Itchyworms), Mikey Amistoso (Ciudad, Hannah+Gabi), and Eric Perlas (COG) who co-produced the album. Japs Sergio (Peso Movement, Daydream Cycle) co-wrote 2 songs and Aldus Santos (The Purplechickens) wrote a track and recorded guitars and vocals for it. Clem Castro (The Camerawalls) and Wendell Garcia (Pupil) also played on a couple of tracks. Having grown up in a family where everyone’s into music of all sorts, you’ll be able to hear strains of these genres in all her songs. And as she is never one to box out her band in one category, she defines Domino’s music as a fusion of everything, easily one that she would like to listen to, just probably with more bits of pop in it, as this is her biggest influence.

Mantis includes the following tracks: “I Love You, But I’m Driving”, “His Song”, “Veil”, “I Die Each Time”, “Eight Days”, “Farichild”, “Oath”, “This Furious Now”, “To Thunder” and “Dites-moi”.

So ladies and gents, enough said. How about we skip the pleasantries?  Buckle up and prepare for a sexy sound trip. If you’re in for a funking out, eargasmic time, Mantis won’t disappoint.

Always remember that Mantis is Domino ( Lally Buendia)

Mantis by Domino is now out in CDs at leading record stores nationwide under MCA Music (Universal Music Philippines). It is also available digitally via iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/ph/album/mantis/id587824809).