10000 Hours
Cosmos People
What is 10,000 hours? Mathematically, it is just shy of 417 days – a little more than a year.
As the title of Taiwanese trio Cosmos People’s album, it suggests a contemplation on the passage of time, an intrinsic part of the cycle of life. On the title track, lead vocalist Hsiao Yu wonders: “How much time does it take for flat ground to form a mountain/How much time does it take for the coast to build a sandy beach.”
The idea of measurement is then extended to the emotional realm: “How does a love song measure the romance of when we first met.”
Elsewhere, the band wrestle with questions of identity and emotional apathy.
Against an upbeat, rousing tune, they sing of becoming numb on Rudderless: “I don’t feel anything towards wonderful things/When my heart is in pain, it’s hard to bear, the higher the expectations the greater the fall.”
The sentiments are sometimes dire, but the music remains engaging, from the whistling at the start of And You? to the brassy accents of Offline Friends; from the disco-tinged 15 Seconds Of Fame to the spare Minnan ballad Rainy Day.
Four albums on, Cosmos People are no longer playing dress-up as spacemen or detectives, even as they continue to play around with musical genres. This is the sound of a band growing up.
(ST)