Tone

Tai Ai-ling

There are ballads and then there are slow-burn torch songs. And Taiwanese singer Tai Ai-ling shows that she has the chops to pull off torch tunes.

Coming a year after the release of Love Sign, Tone is reportedly Tai’s break-up album. The first two cuts, Close Eyes and the title track, feature languorous stanzas that build up to power choruses.

Her voice is deliberately pushed to breaking point as she belts out: “Close my eyes and love till despair comes/I’m still waiting for that heaven you spoke of/Use memories, to heal, to gaze, to resist the waves beating on my chest”.

The electropop of Gone and indie rock stylings of Left-Right offer a welcome change of pace but Today, with its rap by Matzka, is an uneasy fit with the rest of the disc.

Only One

U-Kiss

Image-wise, the seven-member Korean boyband U-Kiss tend towards the fey side of the spectrum, probably using more eye- shadow than the entire cast of Glee combined.

Not that it matters once you put on the headphones because they sound just like any other boyband. That said, Only One is a consistently listenable and energetic album. The opening cry of “Are you ready?” on Binggeul Binggeul (Round And Round) is no routine boast as the lads serve up one slick slice of dance pop after another. Binggeul Binggeul has topped Radio 1003’s singles chart, one of the rare Korean tracks to do so.

Even better is Bang Bang Bang with its rhythmic rat-a-tat chorus as they proclaim: “I wanna rock”.

The album also includes remixes of their previous singles such as Man Man Ha Nee, Not Young and Talk To Me.

Sparklers

Amber Kuo

Cutie-pie Amber Kuo recently starred in the well-received romance Au Revoir Taipei. Which means that she has a back-up option in showbusiness should her singing career fail to take off.

On her third album, she veers between being bland and cute, her thin voice trying desperately to do justice to tracks such as the titular cut.

Things hit a nadir on Cartoon Life, a cover of Mika’s Lollipop. She goes for childish whimsy while mouthing nonsensical lines such as: “My God My God Oh, the world is so big/M’Car M’Car, the world has become so big with you”.

And Sparklers fizzles out.

(ST)