Nine
Nine Chen
I Really Don’t Want To Fight With You opens with moody orchestral strings. Then the beat kicks in and it turns into a slice of energetic dance-pop.
Good Morning My Homesickness is a take on longing for home from the unexpected perspective of a Kaohsiung native in Taipei.
Touches such as these mean that Taiwanese singer-songwriter Nine Chen’s fourth album is no by-the-numbers effort.
It does not always work though. The electro-funk of Soybean Milk goes from a conversation on how to make good music to a party-hearty chorus of “jump, jump, jump”, which seems like a surefire recipe for a stomachache.
But it is at least more distinctive than the familiar-sounding love songs such as the balladry of You, Him, Me and the R&B stylings of My Once Beloved.
(ST)