The Mystic World
Ricky Hsiao
In his first Mandarin album in 2002, blind Taiwanese singer-songwriter Ricky Hsiao touchingly declared to fans that You Are My Eyes.
In return, he now wants to be Your Ocean.
He croons in the breezy number: “My fishes need not fear anything/Because I’m your ocean/Realising your every dream/If there are tears, I will melt them with my embrace.”
The title track also touches on the theme of dreams – the importance of holding onto them and not letting life set one adrift.
While there is an attempt to vary the tempo and mix things up, it is on the ballads that Hsiao’s voice shines, illuminating a tangle of emotions on Stopped Clock, Home and Next Street Corner.
On the last ballad, written by sodagreen’s Wu Ching-feng, he sings poignantly: “The unknown world is so large/The world I’ve known is so small/The tears I’ve had are so heavy/Eternal joys so few.”
Still, hope beckons and he vows: “I’ll race with you to the streets of tomorrow.”
(ST)