COLD FAIRYLAND

Lin Di's vocals are clear, emotional, and very much to the fore (although there are also many instrumentals) and the overall feeling is of a complex blending together of different styles and traditions which is both complex and simplistic at the same time. There is a real strength in the arrangements, and one is never quite sure where the music is going to go next. It is an incredibly light and refreshing album, recorded at a time when the band was quite settled and working well as a unit. I know that since this release there have been some tours and line-up changes, with Li Din also working as a solo artist, but their website (thankfully available in English as well as Chinese) gives the impression that this is still a working band and one can only hope that means we will be hearing more from these guys at some point. The live album is far more dynamic and punchier than this one, yet this has a beauty from the performances and stylings, and it is hard to pick a favourite. Both albums are worthy of further investigation and I can see I need to search out the earlier releases as well as Lin Di's solo work. With all their albums now easily available through Bandcamp, there is nothing to stop anyone discovering the melding together of Chinese traditional music and progressive rock which is Cold Fairyland.

This album was recorded live in Shanghai at the ARK Music Club in 2005, and in many ways is the perfect introduction to the band as the songs included are taken from all of their studio releases, as well as including material from Lin Di's solo albums which were available at the time. Musically, the album is almost broken in two, as there are songs which are powerful and very much in keeping with the neo-progressive symphonic sound with crunching guitars and driving drums, and then there are others which feel more traditional and folky in style. Piano and cello are also very important elements of the overall musical sound, and when they bring in the pipa and ruan (traditional Chinese 4-string plucked instruments) they totally change the overall sound.

All vocals are in Chinese, and Lin Di has a powerful and melodic voice which is totally in keeping with the music being played, and one cannot help but be enthralled and entranced by what is being performed. I am not sure if this was all recorded at the same gig, as the sound does seem to change somewhat between songs, and there are some rather weird cuts with clapping being cut off, or even not appearing at all. In many ways it feels more like a band in a studio playing live as opposed to a concert setting, and that is somewhat of a shame. That being put to one side I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed this introduction into a different form of progressive rock, and progheads ought to seek this out (all albums are now available through Bandcamp).

This debut album FLYING OVER THE CITY is somewhat of an anomaly in the band's discography because this isn't really a band at all but just these two founders recording the music they wrote together before starting the band however the start of this dark and dreamy music of the Shanghai underground has taken flight and allows the project to unfold into a more dynamic mix of influences. For this one they released an album of seven tracks that just misses the 28 minute mark so in effect this is more like an EP than a full-length album but do these things mean anything these days?

The title COLD FAIRYLAND comes from a Chinese translation of one of Haruki Murakami's books called 'Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' and supposedly reflects the tones of the music. Many of the songs on FLYING OVER THE CITY date back to Lin Di's childhood who is the primary composer of this band's compositions over the years. The native instruments played are the pipa which is a four-stringed instrument similar to a European lute and the ruan which is a traditional Chinese plucked string instrument with a fretted neck, circular body and four strings.

At this point there is really nothing prog except some of the tracks have a post-rock sort of feel to them but the Portishead influences are much more prevalent as this is very much in the vein of dream pop oriented downtempo chill music with catchy pop melodies only in the Chinese ethnic variety. This is actually a nice pleasant mix of electronica, Chinese pop, post-rock, dream pop and a bit of crossover prog albeit on the light side of the equation. This isn't an amazing album by any means but it's not that bad either. It hosts a nice series of pleasant ethnic infused pop melodies with exotic instruments and electronica. The vocals are pretty good as well. Not representative of the band's work after this debut but a decent collection of tracks that had been in the works for years.

This album is very much an acoustic one with guitar, cello, percussion and pipa leading the way.The pipa almost sounds like a banjo to my ears but when you hear it you think China.This instrument is way to dominant for my tastes and besides i'm not really a fan of acoustic albums anyway.

I like the press release for this album that describes it as: "It's countryside is cruel and beautiful, filled with legend, rivers and forests, ghost towns and battlefields." It is an album you can get lost in with the pipa and cello dominating the soundscapes.

I think this album is more Folk then Neo-Prog, and if your into Folk you should check it out, it's quite beautiful. It's just not my style.

"Seeds on the Ground" is a release somewhat similar in style to Norwegian act Green Carnation and their album "The Acoustic Verses". The songs are all dominated by acoustic or acoustic sounding instruments, the bass provides a basic melody line, the guitars adds a slightly more complicated melody line harmonizing with the bass. Unlike aforementioned Green Carnation release vocals aren't a central element here though, instead violins and the traditional Chinese instruments Pipa and Ruan shares the dominating spot on these tunes, both of them adding a distinct folk-inspired and Chinese expression to compositions predominantly rock in style - although mellow in expression.

Good songs too, a few outstanding and the rest very good. Fans of mellow, progressive rock with influences from traditional Chinese music - or those who find this description interesting - have a release to check out here.

There's a mix of tunes here with great variety in style and manner. Haunting, atmospheric and at times gritty tunes in a distinct neo-progressive vein is the first of two dominating kinds of tunes here, with the only elements revealing their origin being the Chinese vocals. More folk inspired compositions, with ruan and pipa included in the instrumentation, makes up for the other style having a dominating place on this CD. A few numbers mixing these styles can be found as well, and there's also songs with funk and jazz influences in here. Rather eclectic in other words.

Cello and synths are both given prominent roles in these tunes, especially the cello - as this instrument is used throughout the album. The synths aren't everpresent; but when used they paint emotional, often majestic sonic tapestries. The drum sound is big, the bass probably sounds more dominant than it's supposed to in this live recording, and the guitar is used in acoustic, clean electric and distorted electric style - depending on style.

Good songs with good drive in these live recordings - the recording quality is so and so though, not extremely raw but fuzzy and indistinct in places. Which is probably the only negative aspect of this one.