It's been two years since Kjwan's last studio album - Kjwan IV Volume One from 2014. With 13 years worth of discography, Kjwan is always active in the local gigging circuit - headlining local music festivals and repping the homegrown acts at international festivals. Last weekend, amidst the Kanye craze, the band released their new single, "HyperConnected."

We speak to vocalist Marc Abaya about releasing music digitally, the importance of Philippine radio and plans for the new album. 

We just wanted to be authentic, real and basically put stuff out that we wanted our fans to hear.  - Marc Abaya, vocalist

On releasing "HyperConnected" as the first single: 

Marc: We started the year with the plan to release singles every quarter. In this digital world, we realized that you can somewhat control your own pace. Kjwan has been around for 13 years and with where we are right now, we wanted to give our fans new music, yet we didn't  want to be dictated by having to conform to having a hit, or making sure there's a radio edit for it. We just wanted to be authentic, real and basically put stuff out that we wanted our fans to hear. 

On the importance of Philippine radio for local artists: 

Marc: Radio is still important. It's the audio medium that reaches the most number of Filipinos. We have some fans in far off places like Zamboanga, that only hear our music through radio. Even though we know that the digital age is upon us, we still want to give our fans options to where they can consume our music. As artists, we should use every channel we can. We do want to get our music heard. 

We wanted to give our fans new music, yet we didn't  want to be dictated by having to conform to having a hit...

On the new album: 

Marc: We've actually already finished writing two more songs. These new ones will be the 2nd and 3rd release for the year. We will also continue writing and we hope to have our full length album done by end of this year or early next. As with all the Kjwan albums, you never know what you're going to get. As you know, we like trying new things and we don't really stick to one sound. 

HyperConnected will be available for streaming and download in all your favorite digital platforms. No Physical copies yet. However, we might release limited physical copies when the new album drops probably late this year. Fans can expect something new from us, we enjoy pushing the envelope and testing our limits. Collaborations? We have some in mind. Stay tuned. 

Listen to Kjwan's HyperConnected: 

Kjwan's HyperConnected is available on Spotify, Deezer, Amazon Music and iTunes.