SINGAPORE — When Gentle Bones, the musical moniker of Singaporean singer-songwriter Joel Tan, released his debut single Until We Die, it climbed to the top of the Singapore iTunes chart. The official video garnered over 10,000 views in the first five days of its airing.

Those are impressive statistics, considering the music market here — and for a relative newcomer to the Singapore indie pop scene at that. But Tan is taking it all in his stride. “My Dad might have contributed to a good tenth of my views on YouTube,” he quipped, adding that “there is still so much to learn, but I am thankful for the reception my first official single has received”.

According to Tan, the song’s topic is “an ideal which most of us would have at some point of life”. “Taking time out from life with the people you cherish most, and just having a blast,” he said. “The idea of reaching paradise and escapism. Many say that our youth would be the peak of our lives, without consequence or repercussions, or so we hope”.

It’s a fairly mature outlook for someone still in his teens and is very much a musical novice — he only started taking music seriously two years ago. “I have no musical background, I guess the closest to music my family has got is when my dad would rock the microphone during karaoke,” he said. “But ever since I was a kid, I’ve been the biggest fan of the Top 40 of the ’90s and early 2000s, carrying portable CD players and albums of my favourite artistes in a tiny bag that would never leave my side.”

Perhaps then, it is to Tan’s advantage that his family is firmly on his side for his musical endeavours. “My parents and siblings are always the people who hear my song first and decide whether it should leave the household,” he said.

It would seem that they have approved of quite a few of his songs, then — Gentle Bones has a debut album in the works. Tan is understandably excited about this prospect and said that the album will be filled with “more music that I’m proud of”. “I’ve been through a long drawn out process of writing, sifting out the best songs and writing some more just to make sure I really do love my work.”

For him, quality control is important. “People don’t know this but I’ve actually recorded and trashed many originals, even a full EP, either feeling that I wasn’t ready or that the final product wouldn’t be something I’d still love years down the road,” he explained. “But now I believe I am amply prepared to create a playlist of my original works that I would be proud of or at least would allow me to provide a good conclusion to a genre or style of music that I have loved playing and listening to for so many years”. KEVIN MATHEWS

Gentle Bones’ Until We Die is available on iTunes (http://bit.ly/untilwedie) and on Bandcamp (http://gentlebones.bandcamp.com/).