Centrifugal Force
Faith Yang
Taiwan’s Faith Yang can often come across as cold, but the ice queen seems to be melting quite a bit on her sixth studio album.
Reportedly inspired by the astronomical concept of the Roche limit – the minimum distance to which a large satellite can approach its primary body without being torn apart by tidal forces – Centrifugal Force pulls you in inexorably.
Over a gentle piano accompaniment, she issues an invitation on the title track: “Come closer another inch/And I’ll believe you”. The vulnerability is devastating when she sings: “Don’t embrace, you musn’t kiss/I’ll shatter, never be whole again”.
Musically, there are some surprises here.
Zhuan Shen (Turn Around) is an electro track which flirts with the spoken word, while Fen Bi Zuo De Shou (Hands Made Of Chalk) is an unabashed EDM number. And Yan Yu (An Affair) seems to take place in some romantic European location, given the orchestral arrangement.
Fittingly, the album ends with the poignant Tui Kai Shi Jie De Men (Push Open The Doors Of The World). It sounds like an epiphany, suggesting Yang is ready to open up like never before.
(ST)