Shao’s “Midnight Mountain” Out May 14th on Modern Sky
The new release from the Beijing artist depicts abstract spaces you can listen to
We usually think of hearing as the sense most tightly connected with the perception of time flowing. It’s not precise by any means: how many times have you got lost in thought while listening to music? Thinking twenty minutes had passed when an actual hour had gone by. I’m sure you know the feeling. What I mean is that we think of sound as a physical sensation that helps to feel that time is indeed passing. Because of this unconfirmed idea in my mind, music like SHAO’s kinda amazes me: it’s music that is descriptive of spaces, although abstract, and not just time.
SHAO (Shao Yanpeng) is an electronic producer, sound designer and experimental composer from Beijing. He’s been active since 2002, although you will find most of his releases under his previous moniker, Dead J. The theme of space has been present in his work since the beginning, but finds new meaning in “Midnight Mountain”. The record starts out with three tracks on the atmospheric side of electronic music. Tempos are slow, jangling melodies echo in and fade out, rhythms aren’t intense yet. The sounds, the distance between them, and their interaction slowly build this metaphysical architecture around you, a vast area with few obstacles in your exploration. It’s still empty: “Drifting” marks a change, when towards the end of the piece all elements disappear except the obsessive triplet rhythm.
From there onwards the density of the soundscape changes completely. Techno rhythms take the front stage while the exploration through sound continues in the background by means of glitchy bells, far-away clangs, oblique whistles, and reverbs that fill your ears with haze. Our choice for the premiere from the album, “Unknown”, can be highlighted because of how detailed and layered its abstract spaces are. The journey seems to come to an end with “Blue Hole In The Wall”, in which our construct slowly melts before our ears.
I’ve often missed live music in these few months. I now realize that I also miss the actual, physical spaces where I used to listen to musical events. “Midnight Mountain”’s ethereal topography made me feel like I was standing right in the middle of my mental version of those places.
Words by Alessandro Cebrian Cobos.