MANILA -- Iego Tan aka Shirebound & Busking has an old soul.

Even if he is in his early 20s, anyone who quotes American author and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, listens to Irish folk singer Glen Hansard, and loves and uses Miles Davis cover art as inspiration has got to be an old soul. Oh, let’s not forget late British fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien who he swears by and in fact owes for his moniker.

“I am not sure if I woke up and got drunk or vice versa,” Tan explained of his nom de guerre. “But when I woke up, I thought that I don’t belong in the human world and that maybe I was a displaced Hobbit. Now, I have to find my way home; hence, Shirebound. And I am a big Glen Hansard fan and he started out as a busker. Since I didn’t have money to get home, I had to busk. So, Shirebound & Busking was born."

And just to get it out of the way: Yes, Tan did try his hand at busking, twice as a student in his alma mater of the University of the Philippines. “It was embarrassing,” he can only say with a wry smile. Perhaps a bit embarrassed, but also feeling emboldened.

On that previous Tokien-esque reference, mayhap, Shirebound & Busking is a modern-day minstrel – a man with his guitar and the occasional help from friends. “I write love songs and romance. But a lot of times when I look at sunsets and hillsides, I also connect those feelings to a woman. They are related but distinct. When writing songs, I try to tap into the distinction of love for your partner and love for nature.”

And as fate would have it, that Bard-upon-Diliman, is releasing his first full-length album, "For Princesses, By Thieves O Mga Awit ng Hiraya Para sa Guni-guning Sinta," this coming March 29 at Route 196.

It sounds like a mouthful – “long-ass titles,” Tan said of his debut album’s title with a chuckle.

The album art is austere. Rustic. “Like a thesis paper,” Iego was quick to point out. “Or Miles Davis album covers.”

Truth be told, it has that feel right down to the song titles preceded by Roman numerals. As a whole, the album is sparse in its design, but overall, it is deep.

“Everyone says I write sad songs,” he wondered. “But I think they are actually happy.”

Catharsis.

“Maybe,” he simply responded.

“The other day, I saw an interview of Neil deGrasse Tyson where he said, ‘Thunder shapes you.’ And that is exactly the album that I hope I made where the music and the art engages your senses.”

Case in point, the second track, “Pahintulot” that is about a long-distance relationship.

“I was trying to tell this woman how I feel about her before leaving to teach these Lumad children in Mindanao. I said goodbye and constantly thought about her while looking at the mountainscapes of Mindanao. So, I continued writing this song.”

The two are together today. So, the song heals all wounds.

“Tunnels” and “Relapse” seemed so similar. Like they flowed into one another. But the final product is they have become dissimilar. Essentially, writing "For Princesses, By Thieves O Mga Awit ng Hiraya Para sa Guni-guning Sinta" was going deeper than the cliché of trying to find ‘the one’ as cliché-ish as it sounds. "And yet, a lot of it is about heartbreak and a summation of the last decade of my life.”

Shirebound & Busking’s "For Princesses, By Thieves O Mga Awit ng Hiraya Para sa Guni-guning Sinta" is exhilarating, poignant, and insightful look at love and all its complexities. Written and performed by the last of these dying breed of romantics.

“I wouldn’t disagree,” Iego Tan concluded with that wry smile of his. “It’s just the way that I feel.”