Digital single cover of Noel Cabangon’s new single streamable on digital stores beginning Friday, March 24.

Singer Noel Cabangon may be the epitome of a good fellow with an acoustic guitar and a gifted voice. Yet, he himself wants to take that image of his further up for artistic progress. Thus, he is classifying his newfound musicality as "Ampplugged," a play on the term unplugged. By his definition, that's "not really rock but not too acoustic either, and has a hook somewhere."

The activist from a group called Buklod and the voice that bewitched listeners with "Kanlungan" has a new record label, Icons Music (a division of Widescope Entertainment), and a new song, "Kung Ako," which he wrote himself. The track is dropped on digital stores on March 24.

"Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of new songs from young and a little mature artists on Spotify while doing my afternoon run, and came up with the idea of amplified-acoustic music or ampplugged, as opposed to unplugged during the MTV days," Cabangon shared,  "It is still not far from my category or music genre. Topics could vary from romantic love songs to inspirational music."

He was isolating himself and sitting down to write a song when "Kung Ako" came out. For him, it is about winning the heart of a person you've been pursuing, and promising that one how you'd give your love.

It helped that he is now with Icons Music where the producer you'd work with, Ebe Dancel, is an icon himself. He is likewise backed by seasoned record label and advertising gentlemen in Widescope president Vic de Vera and music and entertainment director Neil Gregorio.

Cabangon said, "I wanted to go back as an independent artist, with self-produced songs and albums. But Ebe came into the picture and asked me if I wanted to join the sub label of Widescope. I said, 'Let me think about it.'"

Noel Cabangon (3rd from right) signs with Widescope Entertainment’s Icons Music. From left: A&R manager Ebe Dancel, music & entertainment director Neil Gregorio, president Vic de Vera, Noel Cabangon, and artist managers Dinah Remolacio and Kristy Munoz.

He then stressed, "But because it was Ebe, I thought it would be interesting to collaborate and work with him. Moving into another label would also force me to think of a new direction, what music to create and where I want to bring my career."

"Kung Ako" features John Apura, who arranged the song, on guitars and keyboards, Rommel de la Cruz on bass, and Paolo Manuel on drums. The recording was done at HBE Studio under the care of Nonie Martinez, with the tried and tested Angee Rozul as the mixing engineer.

Asked about how the pandemic has affected his well-being, he noted, "The pandemic for me was a driver to become more productive/creative and to learn to adapt to what Covid did to us. I had some moments of anxiety, but because I grew up a survivor, there’s no time to be weak during those years of lockdowns and tight restrictions."

Cabangon's survival instinct had to do with his days with Buklod, a trio known around the biz for its commitment to social and political issues, and which had its reunion gig in 2018. He said that his experiences with the band kept him grounded and allowed him to learn the deeper meaning of making music.

The music industry will have to see how being Ampplugged, "amplified but not heavy," as the recipient of several Awit awards insists, would play out. While fans are used to listening and watching Noel Cabangon perform with just a guitar on his lap, music scene experts in his circle expect he'd stay relevant playing, in his own words, "with a more layered sound this time."