Outerhope performs, launches debu album at Mag:net Cafe

Siblings Mike and Micaela Benedicto have been writing songs individually
since they were kids.  They grew up amidst music lounges, video editing
rooms, and a healthy dose of classic standards and 60s pop from their
parents’ record collection, as well as groovy 70s children’s soundtracks.
 They formed a duo named after a book called “Five Miles from Outer Hope” in the summer of 2004 when they decided to collaborate on music built with minimal instruments (an acoustic guitar and an electric piano) and a lot of vocal harmony.  The result was a song called Morning After, which gavebirth to their compound sound and would later define the rest of their debut record.

Outerhope’s sound is introverted, absent-minded, and somewhat whimsical. In early 2005, the Benedicto siblings found themselves in Shinji Tanaka’s studio recording the indie record Strangely Paired, a collection of songs, fictional forms of travel.  In the absence of a full band, Outerhope abandons the conventional set-up and play/sing multiple parts. Dream pop and folk influences are heard through vibraphone and rhodes piano voices and melodic guitar-playing.  The eleventh song is a bonus track co-written by Joon Guillen.  Strangely Paired is a subdued record, minimalist in approach and production.

Mag:net Café in Katipunan hosts Outerhope’s debut album launch on the 10th of December, 2005 at 9:30 p.m.  Their repertoire will consist of songs
from Strangely Paired, as well as two new tracks and covers of songs by
the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Kings of Convenience, and others.  Joon
Guillen on electric guitar completes the band in live performances.
Musings Of A Cigarette-Smoking band guests.