Inner Play

Eraserheads and Pupil vocalist Ely Buendia formed Apartel in early 2016 with Gnash and DRT frontman Jay Ortega.^[2] Buendia had wanted to incorporate a big band sound to his live repertoire, adding a horn section to his recent solo concert to reinterpret Eraserheads songs with the big band sound. “I wanted to put a twist on the old songs,” he explained. “I finally was able to afford these musicians like the horn players. I’m pretty proud of the production because there’s nothing like it in the mainstream. And I’m proud of the arrangements of the old songs.”^[3] Many of the band members had listened to soul music at their early age from artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and VST & Company.^[1]

Inner Play was first released through Buendia's record label Offshore Music in July. A music video for the lead single “Is It Hip?” directed by Marie Jamora premiered in September.^[4] The video was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2017 MYX Music Awards.^[5] The album was later released on vinyl in November.^[6]

In January 2017, the band announced that Ortega had left the group to focus on his solo career.^[7] The band released their second single “Sala sa Init” in April, with a giallo-inspired music video directed by drummer Pat Sarabia and Buendia's partner Audry Dionisio.^[8] They also directed the music video for the third single “Guijo St. (Makes You Wonder)”, released in November.^[9]

An EP featuring remixes of songs from Inner Play by Tandem 91, Tarsius, BP Valenzuela, Lustbass, and Couchlab was released to streaming services in November 2017. It was previously released as the second disc of the album's deluxe CD version.^[10]

• Note: “Overture” was track 1 on the first disc of the CD release. It was later assigned as track 1 for the streaming release of the second disc.