Open Heart

Mark Chang

Taiwanese newcomer Mark Chang has often been compared to Dick And Cowboy’s Lau Tieh as they both have manly husky pipes. But Chang has gone the pop route instead of following the older man’s rocker ways.

Album opener Fall In Love And Go Under is a fairly typical emo ballad but it does play to his strengths as a singer.

The delicate ballad The Wind Is Still Blowing, composed by Chen Hsiao-hsia, also leaves an impression.

The runner-up of season four of the One Million Star singing competition shows us different sides of himself on the breezy Loneliness Convenience Store and the disco-tinged Human Shaped Standee.

But for all that, it never quite feels that he is opening up his heart to us in the music.

(ST)