I was finally able to get a hold of Pupil’s Beautiful Machines album a few days ago and give it a good long listen. What can I say — it took 5 years but it seems Ely Buendia may have finally hit his stride post-Eraserheads. The album is slickly produced and confidence oozes out of each track. More importantly though, these new songs are sharp as a whip. The single “Nasaan Ka?” is a great introduction to the new sound, but it can’t begin to represent the breadth of the other 13 tracks on this album. “Dulo ng Dila,” “Beautiful Machines” and “Gamu-gamo” are all the kind of songs that could sell an album single-handedly.

The only track on this collection that I feel weird about at all is the closer, “Lost Guide,” which sounds so Semisonic-esque that I had to check my player to see if I was still listening to the Pupil album. Apart from that one rather misplaced track though, this album is a real treat, because it doesn’t sound like it’s consciously (or un-consciously) aping other more established bands (coughPedicabcough). If Ely Buendia can manage to keep this group together until their second or third albums, he just might pull off the impossible feat of revolutionizing mainstream OPM twice in his lifetime.

Of course, until then, my fingers are well and firmly crossed.