Slow Soul

Crowd Lu

Life Goes On & On

Manhand

The exuberant youthful optimism of Taiwanese singer-songwriter Crowd Lu seems to have been tempered somewhat on his third studio album.

Apart from the opening track Don’t Call Me When I’m Asleep, the chirpy jingles about breakfast and friendship are gone.

But if 100 Ways Of Living from his 2008 debut folk-pop album of the same name was about feeling conflicted over the vastness of possibilities, Slow Soul can be seen as one way of approaching life.

Tiger Chung’s lyrics in the title track go: “A gentle breeze is blowing, who is crying/I’m like a kite, blown past boundaries, so far away/Forgive my slow soul/I’m worried I won’t be able to find/Oh, my world.”

Musically, Lu is still exploring. On Harbourside Boy, he sings in Minnan to Cheer Chen’s lyrics: “My granddad rises early as well/Catching fish by the sea, passing the days by watching the sky.”

Lu’s child-like innocence remains, though for the first time, it almost crosses over into twee territory on songs such as Rainbow with its clunky English chorus: “I see the rainbow in the sky/So high so beautiful.../I promise/I will take you fly away from here...”

Mosquito is a highlight here but fans would have already heard it on his Four-Fruit Ice EP (2010) and the earlier acoustic guitar version is superior.

On the whole, Slow Soul feels like a transitional album as Lu figures out where he is headed next. Even if he takes it slow, the journey ahead should still be a worthwhile one.

Despite a marked difference in musical styles, Malaysia’s pop-rock outfit Manhand embrace a similar laidback attitude towards life on Slow And Relaxed, a collaboration with Taiwanese hip-hop jazz artist Soft Lipa.

The message is also found on their third album’s opener Life Goes On: “Let us slowly move forward step by step/Even if time doesn’t turn its head once it’s past/Just want to embrace the moment and stride across the earth.”

The band show off their versatility by giving the listener a little of everything from the balladry of Continue Latido to the hip-hop dance of Lalula. The anger that flashes through Pedestrian, though, feels a little jarring.

Life might go on and on, but Manhand prove that it does not have to be monotonous or dreary.

(ST)