Human
Fei Xiang

Mask
Maggie Chiang

Face
Sam Lee

It feels like veterans’ day with this clutch of releases from familiar names: Taiwanese-American Fei Xiang, also known as Kris Phillips; and Taiwan’s Maggie Chiang and Sam Lee.
They have all been out of the limelight for a while and are trying something different in their new works.
The ageless Fei ventures into electronica and purrs on the opening track: “I’ll be your man.” There are some intriguing sentiments here and, on Moment, he muses: “Perhaps love doesn’t need truth and honesty/Perhaps love is not about should or should not.”
He had a stint on Broadway in the 1990s, when he starred in musicals such as Miss Saigon, but the songs here tend to be more mellow than showstopper-bellow.
The CD cover is an image of an X-ray and Fei notes poignantly in the liner notes that it is the most
“truthful” photo of him and that deep down, we are all the same.
Chiang also wrestles with authenticity on her EP.
She sings on the title track, which she composed: “Take down the mask, and have again/The freedom to cry, the freedom to love.”
The singer-songwriter is best known for her ballads, but she also includes a few mid-tempo numbers here. Do not mistake the breezy-sounding Way Oh for a light-hearted track though, as she takes on urban alienation: “Crowded Taipei, how many buildings/Carve up the sky/I’m drowning in the midst.”
From Mask, we move on to Face, the first salvo in a planned trio of EPs from ballad prince Lee.
While the trilogy packaging is a little unusual, the songs here are the most conventional of the lot. They mostly circle around love, and while Wish You Happy and Passenger find him on emo ballad mode, at least My Love ups the tempo.
Let’s App feels like a strained attempt to be hip with references to downloading an app and dancing to reggae. It is an oddity that will not save Face.
(ST)