SELECTED INTERVIEWS AND REVIEWS
THE QUIETUS
by John Doran
The astoundingly inventive vocalist was called Rully Shabara Herman (frontman of Indonesian math rock group Zoo) and it seemed clear that he was performing a kind of audio balancing act: that no matter how diverse Suryadi's instrument was, he was determined to be able to create as many - if not more - sounds using his voice alone.
NEW YORK TIMES
by Greyson Currin
“We are normal musicians like anyone else in the world who experiments. We just happen to be Indonesian,”
THE ATTIC
by Dragos Rusu
“How much do we need to lose out knowledge, to forget our books, to disconnect our technologies to dive again in the incomprehensible? What are the limits of perceptions?”
MUSICWORKS
by Daniel Glassman
The applause in the cavernous church sounds incongruous after the transporting music. It feels as though we need a different appreciation ritual—an awed hush, perhaps.
BRAINWASHED
by Duncan Edwards
This all lasts about 40 minutes during which Zoo range from cathartic bass and drum blasts, fierce howling and jabbering, to heavy riffing, deep but abrasive melodies, pseudo-operatic bombast and peaceful acoustic ballads.
PITCHFORK
by Philip Sherburne
He sounds like a synthesizer; he sounds like a pterodactyl. Yet, despite the obvious, formidable power of his voice, he never feels the need to fully unleash it;
TONEGLOW
by Joshua Minsoo Kim
Part of our history is modern influences too. There’s metal music, there’s everything we listened to when we were teenagers. All of that is embedded in us, and we can’t betray that when we make music
NME
by Azzief Khaliq
“Our first ten years were about exploring our music and our potential as musicians. Now it’s time to ‘return to the world’ by applying what we’ve learned to other aspects of our work.”
POPSCOTCH
by Vanja Dabic
"a voice, as a sound, connects that body, that instrument, to your surroundings, to nature, to the environment in which that instrument exists, so it’s very important in terms of existence…"
REDBULL MUSIC ACADEMY
by Kat Leinhart
“A lot of Indonesian bands, they say ‘I want to make songs that are real Indonesian,’” Rully says. “We don’t do that, it will sound fake. And we don’t have to, because we are Indonesian. So do what you want to do. If you do it honestly, it will be authentic. As long as no one calls us ‘world music,’ we don’t care how we’re classified.”
ELECTRONIC BEATS
by Mark Smith
His arms twist and twine like searching snakes, while he traverses a broad range of vocal moods. Keiji Haino gets you in the ballpark, but Shabara’s octave-jumping gymnastics can’t be described by influences. His baritone projects the types of harmonics you’d associate with throat singing.
KNIK
by OCCII
When you sense that energy being thrown back at you, you will give back even greater energy. And so on. That’s what makes a great performance. Many failed performances are due to a lack of understanding this concept.
THE JAKARTA POST
by Andreas D. Arditya
Rully’s vocal exploration is definitely the prominent element of Zoo’s music. Throughout the songs, Rully keeps transforming into tribal war chiefs, shamans and crooners, presenting us with a variety of possible uses of vocal chords and vocal tracks.
THE JAKARTA POST
by Stanley Widianto
Menjadi is some heavy music. It's not concerned with brevity, but the seven minutes Senyawa takes to make a point, it does so in a wildly engaging manner. Particularly Shabara's vocals. He's not exactly singing, as Shabara elastically uses his voice as an instrument from throat-chanting, muffled screams, theatrical whispers and countless other stuff.
It is magnificent to behold. Once or twice, I feel a smile break out unbidden across my face, just because what they do is so bloody wonderful. The sweet is all the sweeter after a mouthful of sour.
FREQ
by David Solomos
It is magnificent to behold. Once or twice, I feel a smile break out unbidden across my face, just because what they do is so bloody wonderful. The sweet is all the sweeter after a mouthful of sour.
AUDITION RECORDS
by Julian Bonequi
Zoo is a metaphor for modern civilization, and that is the big theme which underlies every aspect of the band. Modern world serves the purpose of creating more advanced, systematic, human-centered civilization while detaching themselves from nature, traditions, and anything ‘wild’ and ‘chaotic’ but on the other hand it's leading them toward new kind of chaos, disorder, and worse, destruction.
by Wane Lietoc
Rully’s multilayered vocals growl, snarl, and follow you through the ends of the EQ spectrum
MAGREB
The relationship between human and nature is always the big theme in Senyawa`s songs, with lyrics or energy wise. The dynamics of this relationship is interesting; strong, destructive, beautiful, and at the same time can be really fragile.