SingerSen – Sirens

Release date: May 18, 2011
Label: Singer Culture / R2G Music

Tracklist

  1. 醉 (Drunk) [MV]
  2. 塞壬 (Sirens)
  3. 狼 (Wolf)
  4. 待 (Longing)
  5. 蜘蛛小姐 (Miss Spider)
  6. 雪女王 (Snow Queen)

A lot of people are quite surprised with the freshness in the sound of SingerSen — 歌者森 Ge Zhe Sen, for those of you interested. People, music in Mainland China is not just idols. There are those who are actually fusing electronic music with a lot of ethnic influences like Sa Dingding [1], Chang Shilei’s Niu China is also a decent example, and even Laure Shang is following that trend.

Of course, part of SingerSen’s sound comes from her collaboration with Guy Sigsworth, the guy behind the likes of Bjork, Imogen Heap (also Frou Frou), and even giving Alanis and Britney their pop electronic-infused sounds.

SingerSen’s Sirens (塞壬) is no exception. The sound is infectious, the beats are Sigsworth’s signature, but added to SingerSen’s Mandarin vocals, it gives the production a killer distinctiveness. Drunk is probably the best track on the whole EP. It opens the whole album and it might actually be hard to live up to. Once the chorus breaks with the almost chanting, combined with the beat, it sucks you into the atmosphere. Energetic and powerful all at the beginning, which comes as a shock when Sirens begins with the soft melodious vocals reminiscent of Imogen Heap’s Frou Frou days.

Wolf is possibly the most ethnic-sounding track on the whole album and it actually reminds me a lot of Sa Dingding’s music, which goes in contrast to Longing, which is the most dubstep-influenced track. It becomes a signature, however, when SingerSen breaks into those 爱情,爱情,爱情 [Ai qing, ai qing, ai qing / Love, love, love]. Which reminds me, Mandarin, such a delicate and hard language to compose in.

Miss Spider is also a powerful track with loud vocals — once the almost happy-sounding verses are over — while Snow Queen starts out with backing vocals, reminding us of Bjork, that turn into more of her as SingerSen explodes into her chorus. The whole song relies on its soft melodic verses. It ends Sirens on the perfect tone.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Preview on Xiami.com | Like it? Buy it on Amazon MP3 | iTunes

Win one of our three signed copies of SingerSen’s The World in my Eyes here.

amy

YAM Magazine editor, photographer, blogger, translator and part-time web designer. Film junkie, music junkie… and lately series (a.k.a. TV) junkie.

11 Responses

  1. ghost says:

    This seems like an unfair review, considering you love Bjork, listen to Imogen Heap and didn’t mind Frou Frou. You basically worship Sigsworth without even knowing it.

    • amy says:

      @ghost, I foudn Frou Frou a bit boring except for two or three songs. I prefer Imogen Heap as a general rule…

      I think Sigsworth is a double edge sword… for example, I don’t think Alanis was right on her collaboration with him… in the whole album. Britney was lucky to just use him in a couple of tracks… I do think Sigsworth overpowers any other sound, so in the case of SingerSen – it works.

      Sometimes a name overpowers the style, that’s why Madonna ended up sounding like an addition to Justin Timberlake and Timbeland, instead of the other way around. Madonna with Sigsworth would sound like… Sigsworth and not Madonna. xD

  2. Camiele says:

    Can I say I’m SOOOOO happy I was in the market for broadening my musical scope when it comes to Asia. Admittedly, I’ve only listened to Jazz and Rock from Japan and Kpop and KIndie. I NEEDED something else and DAMN!!! All I know is Drunk and Wolf are RIDICULOUS! That VOICE… whew!

    Thanks for introducing me to this awesomeness. Off to discover Sa Dingding. ^-^ *skips merrily away*

    • amy says:

      @Camiele, sometimes it makes me mad that Cmusic fandom doesn’t talk about cmusic in English, so all the awesome is hidden for us non-Chinese readers. T_T that market is soooooo vast and so unexplored, it seems like there’s a gazillion of music genres in China. You should give The Voice of China a look ;) I mean, dude~ it’s a reality show franchise from the US, alright, but the type of genres (and voices) woah~~~

      Also, Singer Sen had another EP called Shadows this year, and according to what she told me, she’s supposed to be releasing a full album this year. But I’ll see about that… xD

      • Camiele says:

        @amy, Oooo!!! Oh, I’ll HAVE to look out for that. I read your interview with her, but hadn’t actually listened to her music before, otherwise I would’ve spazzed much sooner… HaHa. Yeah, consider me a huge fan of hers. Thanks!!!

        It does seem that the Chinese music market is really an in-house type of thing. I’ve seen a lot of people of Korean descent say if you’re not Korean you shouldn’t listen to Kpop. I wonder if it’s the same mentality with Chinese people and their music? But that’s unfortunate because music is meant to be for everyone, explored and discovered. If the world doesn’t see her beauty, then what’s the point of making it? Is that wrong of me, selfish? HaHA. I just love the way she sounds.

        • amy says:

          @Camiele, I think it’s a matter of distribution. I remember some of the comments during the London opening and/or closing ceremonies, since London was using so much music… there were some Chinese users saying that the UK has been giving so much pop culturally for the past 20 years, and asking themselves “what has China given to the world?” Dude. If people don’t know, it’s our problem, not China’s LOL

          I really think that if China took distribution in their own hands, their movies and music would have much broader appeal. Especially big budget movies. If anyone can compete with big Hollywood movies it’s China. Okay, China and Korea lately. But they need to stop relying on small local distributors to do their business… Fox, Universal, and Disney didn’t make it big with small distributors, they’re the one’s setting up offices overseas for sales and management.

        • amy says:

          @Camiele, or maybe that’s just me wanting Chinese companies to pay me to listen to their stuff and promote their music xD Hahaha

          I don’t really care much for pure condensed Cpop, though. It’s gotten better in the last two years with the healthy Kpop competition (and unhealthy fandom), but overall~ the top charts in China and Taiwan have a nice variety that you don’t necessarily see in Kmusic or Jmusic charts (Jmusic being all Arashi and AKB xD).

  3. Camiele says:

    @amy, Ah I see. Welp! I do hope they figure it out. I mean, it doesn’t seem they’re wanting for cash or pull to find distributors who’d want to sponsor their music or their films. But, in the meantime I’ll just come to you ^-^

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