Gentle Bones’ new EP top S'pore iTunes charts in one hour

SINGAPORE — Singaporean musician Gentles Bones' latest EP, Geniuses & Thieves, has topped the iTunes in Singapore charts a mere hour after it was released on Friday (June 3). 

"Facing many trials over the past year and a half, we have finally got to this. I'm glad to say that this EP, that I've poured my heart into for so long, is now out. Now for the concert!” said the singer in a statement, referring to his highly anticipated concerts at The Esplanade on June 10 and 11, 

The five-track EP includes the title track, as well as the official lead single, Run Tell Daddy, all of which explore new sonic territory.

Unlike the guitar-driven indie-folk styles of previous songs such as Save Me, the new songs feature more electro and R&B grooves reminiscent more of the pop material produced by the likes of Swedish producers such as Max Martin.

Some might call it a genius move; detractors will call it thievery — already several people have commented that the riff for Geniuses & Thieves (the song) was a rip-off of a song by the group, Made In Heights. (Universal Music, which is releasing the EP, explained that Alexei Saba of Made In Heights had given the Singapore singer approval to use the riff.)

But this new musical direction is something that Gentle Bones said is part of his DNA and that this EP was a long time coming.

“I’ve always been like that,” Gentle Bones, whose real name it Joel Tan, told TODAY.

“Even Sixty Five, the song that wrote for the movie, 1965, last year was already different from what I’d done before. I want to push myself and explore ... see how far I can go as an artiste,” he added, saying that he didn’t want to remain pigeonholed in a musical genre.

Prior to the release of this album, the singer also unveiled new merchandise (available until June 3 at TOPMAN at ION Orchard) such as tote bags and T-shirts with the EP’s title embroidered on the front, as part of the marketing blitz for this EP.

The singer, who said he’s more of a “dress down not dress up” kind of guy, said he was quite involved in the process of producing the clothes.

“Yes, I was. I didn’t actually make any of them, but I was involved in the design decisions. And yeah, those are the kind of clothes I would wear,” he said, laughing. “It’s a bit like my music. I make clothes that I want to wear, and I music that I would like to hear.”

Gentle Bones will playing his new material at his Esplanade concerts and he said that he is currently entrenched in rehearsals. “There are different elements now to the music, so we have to make sure that we get it right for (the live show).”

The concerts were supposed to happen last December, but were postponed to June this year after the singer was detained in Indonesia for nearly 100 days, along with YouTube stars Kina Grannis and Jesse Epstein, after their passports were impounded because of a problem regarding performance permits.

Gentle Bones performs June 10 and 11 at the Esplanade Concert Hall. Tickets from SISTIC.