The people involved in the Up Dharma Down you knew and whose music you loved are coming back, but not in the way you think. 

First, the version of UDD included Armi Millare on vocals and keyboards, Carlos Tanada on guitars, Paul Yap on bass, and Ean Mayor on drums is no more. Millare has bolted that group and is already deep into her solo career. Armi is recently picking up again on her music. Starting with the vibing, neo-soul-tinged “Roots” released late last year and early in 2024, Armi brought a new song to the fore that we’ll return to in just a few.

As for Tanada, Yap, and Mayor—the remaining UDD members—rumors are swirling that Up Dharma Down’s vaunted rhythm section, now operating as a trio, is gearing up for a new release soon. Whether that new release will be a track single, an EP, or an album remains to be seen, but new material will come.

So why this fuss about UDD all of a sudden?

Well, in case you didn’t know. The band’s 2012 album “Capacities” was one of 2023’s best-selling physical albums. That record, which included the band’s biggest mainstream hit in “Tadhana” and other fave tracks such as “Indak,” “Luna,” the Fleetwood Mac-esque “Thinker” and the Pinoy synth-pop classic “Turn It Well,” found itself in vinyl form for the first time last year and was a best-selling title for vinyl resellers and continues to do well up until now. Trust these vinyl resellers and record shops (and many of them) to know what their patrons like and what will sell. They know that the Up Dharma Down catalog is a fine record, whatever form it takes, especially in vinyl form, which is a good and worthy buy. After all, new vinyl prices these days are nothing to sneeze at.

It also says that UDD’s music remains relevant after all these years. One thing that “Tadhana” did after becoming a crossover hit was that flavors of neo-soul were ingrained in the Pinoy listener's milieu. Or at least to those countless would-be female rock singers who’d want to front a band, and to an extent, those karaoke singers who wanted to cut their teeth in Armi Millare’s soul and R&B-informed vocal style.

Going back to Armi, the singer-songwriter-keyboardist returns to her soul and R&B roots for her new single titled “Whatever.” Here, she channels 90s and early aughts R&B that echoes D’Sound, EBTG, and yes, even her old band UDD.

In this pensive, mid-tempo jam, Armi Millare sings about an unsteady, one-way relationship that eventually caves in and fades. And you can actually feel the singer brooding over her unsure footing about the relationship as she intones: Whatever you need / is something I can give you / you don’t have to run / you don’t have to hide / you don’t have to leave me wonderin’ why, albeit soulfully. And while the relationship angle eventually dissolves: ‘Now I’m alone in this / dealing with the crash right after all the high, “Whatever” is vibing enough, what with lingering piano chords and those full-sounding bass fills, to get our head nodding along.

Armi Millare also hinted that she’s in the thick of working for an EP expected at mid-year. And with the reconfigured UDD gearing up, we might see ourselves in the thick of several Armi Millare and UDD releases soon.

At the same time, but apart.