“Anong ibig sabihin ng EP?”

“Extended Play.”

“Bakit ‘extended’?”

“I don’t know. Extended from one song? Usually 3 to 5 songs ‘yun eh.”

Or I could be wrong of course. But setting aside the whys or the etymology of the EP, I got to experience (again) how difficult it is to talk during a live music performance, especially when the musicians and their amplifiers are about two meters away from you. It’s a difficulty that begets ambivalent feelings: it’s infinitely fun to share this experience with a friend, particularly one that I haven’t seen and talked to in person for such a long time, but it’s just great how the music permeates the entire venue and gets loud enough to drown any distractions, conversations, and thoughts – a sonic soup I want to float on and consume.

Live music played this close, in a closed and small space, demands all of your attention. The drum beats, the guitars and base rhythms, the vocals, all amplified, converging to create sound waves hitting not just your ears but your entire body—the sounds physically touch your heart, your limbs, your guts, all the way down to your toes and (maybe) even to the tips of your hair. (I swear I felt music notes in my hair!)

Bewitching, isn’t it?

I imagine my favorite songs being played in such a context and I consume them in this manner and they become a part of me for a period of time.

Extended play.

Bewitching, it is.