By KEVIN TAN
alltherage@thestar.com.my
WHEN three female siblings come together to form a group, you know their adventure is going to be worth reading.
We all know of the terrific trios from television series like Charmed, Charlie’s Angels, and The Powerpuff Girls who always manage to save the day, but however, aren’t real.
The Impatient Sisters are not exactly out to save the world, but they are definitely real. This musical trio from Kuantan, Pahang don’t call themselves
The Impatient ‘Sisters’ just to sound fancy – they really are siblings.
“We named ourselves The Impatient Sisters because we really do get impatient, mostly with each other,” said Soraya Taib with a chuckle.
The band is made of Soraya, Nazeera Taib, and Irena Taib who are 26, 22, and 20 years old respectively. The music they produce is folky, romantic, and deeply melancholic, and it’s very much set apart by their marvellous vocal harmonies. If there’s one thing you’ll remember about The Impatient Sisters, it will be their soothing harmonies.
“I love it when we sing together, it’s like choir,” said Irena, who’s a music student in Aswara (Akademi Seni Budaya & Warisan Kebangsaan) in Kuala Lumpur.
The Impatient Sisters
Their music is mostly played with the acoustic guitar with an interesting combination of the xylophone and kazoo. Occasionally, they also have a cellist performing with them. However, the most dominant instrument in their music will always be their voices in unison.
The siblings made their first appearance as The Impatient Sisters in 2010 as an opening act for indie-pop band My Short Term Memory. Although they only performed cover songs, their first performance did more than impress the crowd and made them want more.
“After performing, the organiser came and asked if we had any original songs,” said Soraya. “But we didn’t. So we decided to try writing our own stuff.”
This was when they wrote Comets and Stars, a song every Impatient Sisters fan knows.
It was not long before people started to notice them as they were featured on The Wknd Sessions, an online channel that supports local independent musicians.
“We were approached by The Wknd and were so surprised. So we went on the show without thinking about what’s going to happen next,” said the eldest sister, who is also a ballet instructor.
Soon after that, The Impatient Sisters were performing at many gigs and events.
They even collaborated with international star Zee Avi for a special performance where they covered her song Anchor.
To date, they say their biggest achievement was opening for The Jezabels, an indie-rock group from Sydney, Australia who recently performed in Kuala Lumpur.
“We didn’t expect this at all. We never thought that anyone would be interested in us. But now, we’re actually affecting people with our music,” Soraya said with a wide smile.
The Impatient Sisters already have a catalogue of original material now, and will be releasing their first EP (Extended Play) at the end of the year.
The EP includes songs like Comets and Stars, And, The Ark, and Love, which the musical siblings are best known for.
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