Around 10 years ago, the two were denizens of a then-burgeoning local indie music scene. Manny had his electronica side project called Astrud5 while Ernest was letting out punk-rock steam with his own band and helping found Documento Records, a short-lived indie label that’s best remembered for a compilation CD.

Both Fine Arts students at UP, Ernest and Manny again crossed paths in New York, where both decided to pursue their craft as visual artists. Naturally, they went about forming a band.

The two hooked up and jammed with Jennifer Birklich, likewise a visual artist who originally played bass but later gave it up for vocal chores. Ernest switched to bass while Manny took care of the electronic side of things. Jenn settled for the melodica, sort of like a mini-keyboard only it’s a wind instrument.

Added later on were Michael Estabrook, who played the trombone, and David Gould on percussions. The end result was an indie experimental outfit formed about three years ago, called Lumipad.

The band was in the Philippines last April for a series of gigs at indie clubs and art spaces, like Café Saguijo in Makati and Future Prospects at happening Marikina Shoe Expo in Cubao. I was able to chat with Ernest and Manny for a bit before their Saguijo set.

The name Lumipad, they explained, came about after Manny, annoyed at finding an open locker at the studio they were practicing in—and where many other Filipinos hung out--left a note saying, "Paki-lock muna ‘to bago kayo lumipad!." The others in the band were apparently enamored with the word lumipad’ and the hunt for an appropriate name to call themselves ended.

Ernest told me he felt right away at home during their Manila gigs, because the local indie scene had the same energy as New York’s.

"All of us in the band hung around in same music community," he related. "The only difference is that back in the US, there are a lot of these independent communities in different areas," Lumipad has had their share of gigs in these New York communities, including Brooklyn and Greenwich Village.

Asked whether there are plans for a commercial album, both he and Manny admitted that Lumipad, the band, is still a work in progress. Manny generates beats from his PC from which the others build upon, adding instrumentals (or ‘texture’, as how they put it) while Jenn ends up writing lyrics.

The band played a number of their original compositions that night at Saguijo. It was a rare treat because otherwise, the only way for anyone in the Philippines to hear the band’s music is over the Internet.

While their songs evoke different atmospheres, from the dark ambient sound of "Xoxo" to the bass-driven, trombone-laced chill out feel of "Julia," Jenn’s voice swirls in a singular manner similar to Cat Power of Leslie Feist, who lends vocals to Canadian experimental supergroup Broken Social Scene while herself a solo performer. In fact, she bears a bit of resemblance to the Canadian singer.

Ernest and Manny, eager to play after a decade of hiatus from their homeland, were more than glad to find out that the local band scene is once again alive. When they set out for New York, it was to expand their horizons as artists. "That didn’t mean I had foregone what I started back home. We continue what we would have been physically doing in Manila," Ernest said.