Huayi 2013: in::music – Deserts Xuan: Songs Of Tea And Wine
Esplanade Recital Studio/Monday
One person, one world, one kind of music. That is what good music should be to Taiwanese singer-songwriter Deserts Xuan, also known as Chang Xuan.
And the world she presents through her music is one that shimmers with mystery and beauty. Her voice goes from a beguilingly throaty low to a delicate high register as she sings about love and life accompanied by drums and guitars.
On Monday evening, the first of three sold- out shows, she sang tunes from her four albums. She opened with the title track of her 2006 major label debut, My Life Will, and also took on material from Dear... I Still Don’t Know (2007), City (2009) and Games We Play (2012).
Exuding casual cool in a black-and-white print top, skinny jeans and mid-calf black boots, she looked the part of the indie rocker on more uptempo tracks such as Selling and the encore number Crazy Sunshine.
It was on the quieter numbers, though, that her magnetic voice got to breathe, such as a cover of the Velvet Underground track I Found A Reason. And on her own Blue Sky White Clouds, she was achingly tender when she repeated the line: “I used to have only you in my eyes.”
Instead of easy answers or cliched sentiments on her songs, there is the sense of someone engaging with life on her own terms and trying to find her way forward.
The audience got a peek into her thought process when she spoke between songs. She was endearingly shy and tentative, and sometimes, her words flowed as though reflecting the stream of consciousness in her head.
She was clearly pleased to be performing here, bowing deeply to the audience several times and happily slipping in references to local singers Stefanie Sun and Tanya Chua. She joked: “Tomorrow night, I’m autographing for Stefanie Sun” and added later, “Tanya is doing very well in Taiwan, don’t worry.”
Regrettably, she signed on for just an hour- long gig. She would have preferred a longer show as she could then do “unimportant songs” such as the six-minute-long Days and “so that you know what I get up to in Taiwan”.
There is no question that fans here would love to find out.
(ST)