Love As Punishment turn covers into “emotional translations” on debut EP

Love As Punishment have unveiled their debut EP ‘Play The Hits’, out now via Loide Records.

The release reimagines a set of regional favourites into tender new forms, reshaping them into something wholly their own.

The project is the brainchild of Arick Ahong and Ais Marciano, hailing from Medan and part of Home-listening Plaza, a community centred on subtle, slow-dancing sounds.

Across ‘Play The Hits’, Love As Punishment rework tracks from Rub of Rub (Bandung, ID), Subsonic Eye (Singapore), Texpack (Bogor, ID), Kinder Bloomen and Ministry Of (Jakarta, ID).

The EP pays tribute to Loide Records’ Asia’s Big Energy movement, not as a set of straightforward remixes but, as the duo describe it, as “emotional translations.”

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The results are gentle yet striking, with each track radiating care and intimacy, drifting somewhere between indie bangers and late-night anthems. Love As Punishment themselves call it “glory-coloured funk”: strange and comforting in equal measure, music made for slow-dancing at home.

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Following the release, the duo launched Love As Punishment FM, a radio tour that began on August 26 and continues with stops at Headstream, Hong Kong Community Radio, KISS FM Medan, The Nifty Radio and Domain Radio.

The project also lays the foundation for Home-listening Plaza’s forthcoming six-track compilation, framed as a modern love letter gathering the present-day sounds and quiet brilliance emerging from the city of Medan.

Listen to and purchase Love As Punishment’s ‘Play The Hits’ here.

Henry Cooper is a Writer at Mixmag Asia. Follow him on Instagram.

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