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A Peculiar Yet Stella
Night
NUS takes on a new image by
kicking off its first ever Commencement Concert
- featuring Pam Oei & Peculiar Remedies and Stella Ng
by mervyn
sek,
fernandez
charmaine cecilia
& lim
kar keat
photos: mervyn sek
 The
night opened with Pam Oei and her band, Peculiar Remedies, gracing the
stage in very casual wear. Fashion was never their forte, for as music
critic Paul Zach puts it, “the Singapore band blends beautiful vocals
with strong melodies set in lean yet captivating arrangements.” With
a nod from Pam, the drummer started the rhythm for the night with the song
called “What Goes Around, Comes Around”.
Their
repertoire of folk-rock-pop original songs and covers traced the steps
that students have to take before reaching their graduation, beginning
with the jingle from Sesame Street and ending with Pam’s own composition
as a fourth year Architecture undergraduate, “Such and Such”. This
last song was dedicated to the graduates, encouraging them to “stay true
[to themselves] always” and to be always cautious about materialism.
With
an audience comprising mostly of undergraduates, Pam felt it appropriate
to share her motto: “When you’re feeling down,
there is always a situation worse than yours; we can only enjoy [life] as
much as we can”. “Faster than Yourself”, the penultimate song the
band performed was thus introduced, and proved to be a somber and
inspirational original number with lyrics that must truly relate to the
young audience.
 The
effects were minimal with mere light changes and the stage bare save the
instruments, yet they managed to shine through. Personal anecdotes
interspersed between songs created a nostalgic mood.
Pam's
loud, powerful voice only did her credit with songs demanding diaphragm
power, like “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”. Pam
harmonised relatively
well with the lead guitarist. The excellent
acoustics, musical harmony, vibrancy and stage presence of Pam rocked the
house in the University Cultural Centre. However, the constraint the
venue imposed on the pop artistes was shown in the near negligible
audience participation – the Forum would have been a better choice.
What
about Stella Ng, you ask? Well, she performed too, belting out some of her
familiar hit songs from her debut album but for many, Peculiar Remedies
stole the show. □
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