LETTERS FROM JUNE

Lourence Neil N. Compuesto: Main Vocalist & Rhythm Guitarist

Michelle Anne C. Fajkovic: Keyboardist & Backup Vocalist

Arvy Skye Perez: Electric Guitarist

Sean Levin D. Villa: Electric Guitarist

Danielle (Deign) Felicity E. Porol: Bassist

Ken Adrian T. Lunas: Drummer

The members of Letters from June met in a school theater group in November 2022. They have been creating music together in a dorm room, drawing from personal experiences to shape their songwriting. Despite their varied personalities and music preferences, they value each other's contributions and the unique bond they've formed.

The band is thrilled to be part of KDR Music House, considering it a surreal opportunity. They are excited to share their music with a wider audience and are looking forward to achieving significant milestones with the support of the KDR Music House family. They are set to seal a recording deal this May 29 Wednesday at the auditorium of La Verdad Christian College in Caloocan.

Letters From June aims to craft alternative, mellow, and cosmic sounds.Influenced by a diverse range of artists such as Ben&Ben, The 1975, I Belong to the Zoo, Lizzy McAlpine, Coldplay, The Juans, and Conan Gray, the band aspires to showcase a sound that resonates with their unique style.

Their debut single "Bituin" delves into themes of love and longing. Initially written by Renzo as a personal ode, the band transformed the song into a compelling piece that reflects the emotional turmoil of unrequited love. With poignant lyrics questioning one's worth in a relationship, "Bituin" captures the essence of heartfelt vulnerability in a powerful musical arrangement.

flu

Indie soul-jazz fusion band flu pairs up with Thai native and indie-pop darling Numcha in their new single "I'll Be Mine". It’s not your run-of-the-mill breakup song, it’s a self-love anthem!

It's the band's first-ever international collaboration, marks their first release in three years! “The track expresses a hopeful sentiment about feeling hopeless in a one-sided relationship,” the band explained. “The lyrics muse about the drudging effort of reaching out to your partner and looking for shared interests to rekindle a withering bond.”

Yet even with that dilemma clouding the theme, the song refused to be a typical break-up song. It instead refocused its conclusion to maintaining a healthy perspective: by deciding to leave a taxing relationship is the first step to the path of embracing self-worth.

Transitioning to a more mature sound: Speaking of personal growth, the idea of the song ‘I’ll Be Mine’ strikes a strange similarity to how the song was released.

It was first recorded around 2019 when the band was still experimenting with their sound. Now that the band is a lot more comfortable with their established musical identities, they believe it is high time to unearth this track that stood out from the rest of their archives.

This makes "I’ll Be Mine" a distinctive release, being flu’s first ever venture into maturing their style sonically.

Numcha led the main vocals of "I’ll Be Mine" for the whole duration of the song, seemingly to angle the track to a more feminine perspective, performing it in her signature soft-gaze style. flu, on the other hand, provided the instrumentals behind the voice, painting the background with their prominent bounce and jig. Arguably a bit laid-back to cater to a more delicate groove, but still groovy nonetheless.

“If it feels right, it’s right,” as told by flu on collaborating with Numcha. “It felt like Numcha’s dreamy mix of light R&B and soft pop was a perfect fit for the song.”

It is intentionally a perfect mix of both worlds with Numcha’s quaint yet juicy voice and flu’s silky bouncing beats.

JOSE MIGUEL

With suave vocals, a charismatic presence, and innate musical talent, Jose Miguel could’ve easily pushed forward with sounds and genres most familiar to today’s generation. Instead, he pushed the rewind button and stayed true to his roots of jazz standards and big band music.

However, that’s not to claim that jazz is a genre of the past. Its resurgence first broke into the scene again through artists like Laufey, Stephen Sanchez, and Bruno Major who have been gaining massive streaming numbers and popularity, especially on social media platforms like TikTok.

If you still believe that jazz is just old-fashioned music, Jose Miguel is on a mission to reverse that notion. Today’s audience is a critical bunch–they like music that speaks deeply to them and support artists that they can easily connect and resonate with. They see through the honesty and relatability of music. That’s what matters to them and luckily, that’s what Jose Miguel is all about.

The album is comparable to a diary–expressing intrusive thoughts, sharing exciting moments, and displays of overthinking anything and everything. In other words, simply writing from the soul. Jose Miguel mentions that all the songs were inspired by real life experiences that left an impact on him, and translated into sophisticated and polished ways of storytelling.

Paired with the stories are masterful melodies and refined instrumentals that represent the sounds of the golden age but still incorporating touches of sounds from today, so there’s something for everyone. The best way to interpret the album is that it's an old soul living in the new.

Jose Miguel hopes the album resonates with the listeners lyrically and sonically and enjoys it with a little singing and dancing. It’s a dream come true to finally share the music with everybody and he hopes to also give confidence to those people who want to pursue their dreams and raise the flag of homegrown Filipino talent.

BLACKBURN

Former Pinoy Big Brother Kumunity Season 10 housemate Rob Blackburn who now goes by the mononym Blackburn longs for a deep connection with his beloved in his debut single “Biyernes ng Gabi.”

He performed the song for the first time at the Star Magic Hot Summer 2024 event where he also showcased his fitness transformation.

”Biyernes ng Gabi” captures the feeling of relief during the last day of a work week and how it would be a perfect day to spend with someone special.

“There was this time my family was outside of the country, I was left on my own, and my friends constantly invited me out on Fridays. I sometimes felt Fridays could be hectic if it’s not spent with the right person. I wanted to relax on Friday nights with a special person, though I’m still not sure who she is yet,” he said.

Blackburn composed “Biyernes ng Gabi” while certified hitmaking songwriter-producer Roque “Rox” Santos led its production.

From an early age, Blackburn discovered his love for music through singing at parties, talent shows, and joining musicals during his high school.

“I fell in love with using my voice to entertain others and I found what I was good at. I then sang more consistently, whether or not that was recess in school, my room, the bathroom or humming to melodies in the classroom. I enhanced my passion by joining talent shows and performing as a singer in community parties,” the StarPop artist shared.

He continued to flourish as an actor starring in the Pie Channel series The Chosen One and Eat Pray Love. Now, he begins to venture into music where he can showcase his passion for singing and songwriting. Some of his musical influences come from rock bands such as Blink-182, Sum 41, My Chemical Romance, The Goo Goo Dolls, Eraserheads, Rivermaya, and Kamikazee and pop artists such as Ed Sheeran and Maroon 5.

JACE ROQUE

Singer-songwriter Jace Roque tackles the struggles of rising above hardship and finding one’s heaven in his debut album “Paradiso”

Paradiso is heavily inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy which touches various topics such as love, relationships, and mental health. Jace composed and produced all of the tracks in the album which features 13 рор EDM (electronic dance music) tracks including his previous singles "Sober," "Day and Night," and "Casual".

According to the Star Music artist, “I started building this album in 2017 and it tackles my fall from paradise and my journey back to paradise. It is divided into four chapters – heart, mind, body, and soul. The tracklist will take you through those chapters.”

The album is very personal to Jace and he considers it as a peek into his experiences. “This is my life's journey - my highs and lows, the beautiful and the ugly, everything I've kept hidden and bottled up inside,” he said.

As a P-pop soloist, Jace emphasized the importance of authenticity in music and hopes that it would open doors for other soloists to shine in the industry.

“Truthful, honest, and authentic so sinubukan ko mag-live by through those words. When I make my music, I don’t want to be pretentious. With the P-pop scene, naging sikat ang groups ngayon kaya gusto ko rin sana mabigyan ng spotlight yung soloists na tulad ko who are pushing the pop-EDM sound,” he shared.

Prior to his debut album, Jace has released Inferno which included "Di Para Sa 'Yo," "Be Someone," "Trust," and "Back to Beginning" which was nominated in Awit Awards 2023 for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.

PEYTON GARCIA

Young Filipino-Canadian Peyton Garcia tries his hand in working here on Philippine shores with two singles under ABS-CBN Music's StarPop label.

At a young age, Peyton knew he wanted to be on stage and perform his heart out which pushed him to take a chance on pursuing music.

“Music has been something I’ve held dear to me my whole life, when I was a kid my parents put me in a bunch of extracurricular activities but ever since seeing my first ever musical as a kid I told myself that being on stage just like those performers is exactly what I want to do. And I’ve been on this exciting musical journey since,” he shared.

The 17-year-old artist toured across Canada and the U.S. as a former member of Mini Pop Kids. During the pandemic, he opened the Virtual Concert Reality (VCR), an interactive online concert showcasing youth talents. He names Jon Bellion, Samm Henshaw, and Bruno Major as musical influences.

He talks about young love in the midst of a summery day in his StarPop debut single “Vanilla Bean.” Peyton wrote the song where he described the Philippines as a summer paradise best spent with one’s beloved.

“Being from Canada where the weather is cold, the Philippines to me is a paradise, not only is the scenery beautiful but the people here are so kind and appreciative of everything and I just love it so much,” Peyton said. “This song talks about wanting to share this paradise with that special someone in your life.”

“I'm so proud to represent the Philippines and show the world just how much music can really be. Being a part of a couple gigs in the western industry and getting to represent my home is such an honor and special thing to me,” said Peyton.

Aside from his musical talent, Peyton also starred in the Amazon Prime series Amelia Parker and in the Nickelodeon series Overlords and the Underwoods.

He also co-produced “Vanilla Bean” with certified hit producers Michael Cursebox (Alex Gonzaga, Ex Battalion, Alamat, etc.) and supervising producer Roque “Rox” Santos (Jaya, Maymay Entrata, Belle Mariano, etc.).

He explores a romantic attraction in his newly-launched upbeat single “Tension” He also worked with Cursebox and Rox Santos on this one.

In an Instagram post, he shared a snippet on how he made “Tension” with a mix of piano, saxophone, guitar, and drums sounds.

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A post shared by Peyton Garcia (@peytongarciaofficial)

These two pieces of slick pop music makes us more excited for what's in store from this young lad.