phorous: the devil's element

phorous
timelessness
(elintseeker sounds, 2006)
www.phorous.com

this is the first cd release by phorous. i have not heard much by the band but liked their track the glowering enough on the for good! compilation to check them out on myspace. the e.p. works as one continuous mix. the title track, featuring eswandy of the death of cinema, sound like a dark ltj bukem x underworld song with mellow vocals, sheets of ambience, faraway guitar solo, all layered over some call-and-response breaks and tabla beats. leading directly into the second track, all paths lead to you offers more breaks and floating synth tones, before gilles de rais breaks the flow with its start-stop rhythm pattern and crumbles into shadowgraphs, a heavily reverbed duet between eswandy and linda of lunarin. remixed by kevin of mizeryfree, their vocals seem to rise out of darkness and reach towards the light of the stratosphere. the last two tracks are reprises of timeless as a radio edit and a beatless quiet version.

worthy of special mention is the simple and beautiful artwork designed by kitchen (aka the design unit formed by the sound artists aspidistra fly). composed of pictures of treetop, badminton court and blue sky, the landscapes match phorous' soundscapes rather well.

p.s.: phorous' online debut album is available for free download at their website!

what the ferns!

ferns
ferns
(self released cd-r, 2006)
www.myspace.com/fernfrens

came baybeats and there is still no sight of a full ferns album! instead they brought from malaysia a four track album sampler. i felt a little cheated but, as a loyal fan and big time sucker, bought the self-released cd anyway... thankfully, this is another stunner. expanding on the same song list of the earlier released fernsingle (albeit replacing the love in a handful of beans demo with its studio version), the sampler also includes dear derelict and i won't forget. dear derelict is a beatlesque song in two parts that swings soft and slow before breaking into a completely new verse accompanied by rollicking piano and drums. i won't forget is a breezy love song with strumming guitars and tinkling piano.

all the band members' performance are more than competent and one part of ferns' irresistible charm are the surpising turns in song structure and curious instrumentation. another part is warren's voice. his singing, part weary calmness and part cautious hush, is beautiful, especially when it uncontrollably breaks so slightly on the high notes.

their full album, on botany, is scheduled for release on singapore's finest indie pop label fruit records. i do believe that they will surely deliver the best album of 2006, based on what have been heard so far. so, abby, dave, meng, boon and warren, please please please finish the album soon.

soft pensive joytrendysound

joytrendysound
mazzy
(poch, 2002)
www.joytrendysound.com

while i was listening to stealstealground’s debut, i dug out joytrendysound‘s cd to listen along with it. both of the bands are rather similar – they each have a girl and boy in their lineup, their english monikers are taken from their cantonese counterparts (joytrendysound actually sounds like “on the grass” in cantonese) and both bands play some kind of folksy music. even the band members are related – joytrendysound co-produced stealstealground’s album. moreover, both bands together reminded me of taiwanese singer summer lay’s early album, i am summer lay. hers was a collection of folk music, atmospheric spoken word tracks and songs in-between that blended the two forms.

stealstealground sounds a little like the more electronic songs of summer lay and joytrendysound sounds a little like the folksy ones, but there is one main distinction in terms of sound between the two hong kong bands. listening to stealstealground’s dark and quiet songs makes me feel like staring at the moon, counting dim stars and perhaps getting drenched and going emo in the rain. whereas, joytrendysound’s songs are quiet but fills me with regret like watching the last beam of sunlight disappearing before dusk or feeling lost on realising that the brilliant summer sun will not last when autumn comes. contrary to the band’s moniker, joytrendysound does not sound joyful or trendy at all.

the cover art is an overexposed polaroid-like shot of perhaps marble and ming of the band, looking pensive, walking across a road in the sun. the insert for my copy seems yellowed with age around the edges. is this part of the design? i am not sure, but it all adds to a sense of lost times, of being keenly aware that youth is not forever and adulthood is inevitable. the song titles reflect this pervasive mood. besides a rather pedestrian instrumental first track that is the weakest of the lot, all remaining four songs, particularly the lyrics, are exceptional. the wordplay is poetic, clever, yet affecting.

although still active in the scene, gigging and co-running the über indie label harbour records, joytrendysound has not had any new release, only contributing a few tracks to a few compilations since 2002. however, based on this sole release, joytrendysound is already my personal legend.