Le Cirque I

Peggy Hsu

Four-fruit Ice

Crowd Lu

Famous Detective Lost To Sweetheart

Cosmos People

The EP – short for “extended play” single releases – is often thought the lesser cousin of the full- length album. In the right hands, however, it can be a legitimate form, a musical exploration and every bit as compelling as an album.

Conceptually, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Peggy Hsu’s Le Cirque I could well be a spin-off of her earlier track, In Love With The Circus Ringleader, from the album Fine (2009).

Her five-track EP’s cover illustration of a big top towed by a tiny car wearing a top hat already evokes feelings of whimsy.

The image sets you up nicely for songs such as Chocolate Kiss and If I...: “If the plane falls out of the sky, if the ships sinks to the bottom of the sea/If the car bursts into flames, remember how much I love you.”

Swim Ring keeps the quirky quotient up, and is sweet and sad at the same time: “You are my swim ring, tightly surrounding my world/When my eyes open, I wish to see, the mermaid’s face.”

The richly imagined worlds in the tracks here would put to shame some full-length records with a dearth of ideas.

The vibe of fellow singer-songwriter Crowd Lu’s (below) Four-fruit Ice is more laidback, and is reflected in the cover picture of him chill-axing and tucking into a bowl of the icy dessert.

The gem in this four-track collection is Mosquito, with its witty lyrics about the irritating insect: “Finally, you come close to me/Knew that you would be there in summer/But it’s winter, why are you here/And demanding that I accept this unreasonable love.”

There is also the tenderly nostalgic Nice To Meet You, Lu’s thank you and farewell to his school friends upon graduating from university: “Running circles round the field/Time passes year by year/I want to hold back the tears and say, so pleased to meet you/My dear, dear classmates.”

The mood on Famous Detective Lost To Sweetheart is not so much nostalgic as retro. Taiwanese group Cosmos People have gone from being a quartet to a trio and this is the follow-up to their 2009 self-titled debut.

The jazzy, bluesy arrangements hark back to an earlier time, and are paired with lyrics often wry and sometimes biting. Lost To You opens with: “Oh, Lady, Lady, why are your eyes glinting/Is it because my cash can’t win your heart/Good thing the notes are at home/Wait for me to make a bouquet for you.”

The DVD includes a 20-minute short film, but is pretty much a throwaway effort. The best bits are the individual music videos for Famous Detective, Lost To You and Sweetheart.

These days, for music artists who do not yet have an album’s worth of material to put out, the EP is the way to go.

Freed from the constraints of a formal release, they might feel more adventurous and playful in the studio. And it shows in their compositions.

(ST)