LAIR (pronounced “lah-eer,” a local dialect for the Indonesian word of ‘lahir’, meaning ‘birth’ or, roughly ‘being born’) is a psych-soul/funk outfit hailing from Jatiwangi, West Java, Indonesia, a city once celebrated as the country’s largest manufacturer of clay roof tiles.

Formed in 2018, LAIR’s music, lyrics, and its presentation are vivid, inherently gaudy (in a good way), and honest. The band takes a sizable chunk of inspiration from classical/traditional Panturan Tarling, a form of grassroots musical/performance art popular amongst the people of the northern coast of West and Central Java.

Taken outside of the group’s narratives, the music and lyrics speak for themselves, describing in detail how it is to live on the northern shores of the island of Java. The feeling of salt in the humid air; The tiniest drop of sweat as it runs down the neck of truckers zooming down the hectic roads of Pantura; Posters of the coming election candidates plastered throughout the villages; The garish set of stickers decorating the windshield of rundown public transports, braving every pothole with their dangerously-rickety wheels; And, most of all, the scorching heat.