Experimental Debut Album: From M.E. To Myself
JJ Lin
Having the word “experimental” in an album’s title is a risky move. Here, it does home-grown singer-songwriter JJ Lin no favours.
Key single Bu Wei Shei Er Xie De Ge (Twilight) seems to be a statement of intent as the Chinese title literally means A Song Not Written For Anyone. As the rest of the album title suggests, this is meant to be a deeply personal record.
He sings on Twilight: “Perhaps in truly facing myself, I’ll throw it all to the wind/And probe what I was afraid of facing.”
Genre-wise, the lovely ballad would not be out of place on his other records. The same goes for ballads such as The Key.
It is not till You Meng Bu Nan (Adolescent), a track about pursuing one’s music dreams, that the listener gets something that sounds different. Lin sings the chorus, but guest musicians Shin and Mike rap and sing the stanzas and the disparate parts manage to coalesce into a cohesive whole.
A pity, then, that the inclusion of previously released movie theme songs, instrumental numbers, non-revelatory alternate versions and even bits of chatter only serve to make the disc feel unnecessarily bloated at 18 tracks long.
Despite the proclamation, this is more of a hodge-podge collection than a truly bold venture.
(ST)