What Love Has Taught Us
Eric Chou
Taiwan’s Eric Chou, who impressed on his 2014 debut album My Way To Love with his smooth vocals and songwriting skills, has since shown that there is more to him than just crowd-pleasing love ballads such as the hit Let’s Not Be Friends Anymore.
Now 21, he is an in-demand songwriter for others, including Eve Ai, whose sultry R&B number Talk is an indication of Chou’s versatility.
The new album’s opener is a slinky electronica number -1 Minute, where he sings: “Let another me completely change me.”
Let It Go shimmies into dance territory as he cajoles: “Follow me, fling your troubles away/So we let it go, go, go, go, go, go.”
It takes a certain amount of confidence to name a track Let It Go, given the popularity of the song of the same name from the huge animated hit Frozen (2013), yet Chou pulls it off – you will probably be too busy moving your feet to dwell on the association.
Unlike Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua on Aphasia (2015), however, he has not gone full-tilt into electronic territory.
The ballads are still here and his lovely vibrato and warm tone make How Are You and Wish To Return To That Day come across as deeply felt. He lingers over a past relationship in How Are You and pleads: “Can you continue to cry at me, laugh at me, be good to me/Continue to let me think of you, be crazy for you, grow old with you.”
Even the English-language number No One Like You manages to charm with its breeziness, despite cliched lines such as: “Baby, baby, in my eyes/Oh, you are paradise.” Given that he spent his formative years between 12 and 18 studying in the United States, one expects better lyrics from him.
Still, this is a consistently listenable album with some surprises along the way.
It is a worthy follow-up to My Way To Love, one that suggests Chou will not be easily pegged – and that he has lots more up his sleeve.
(ST)
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
American Pastoral
Ewan McGregor
The story: Swede Levov (Ewan McGregor) and his wife Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) seem to have the perfect life. But when their daughter Merry (Dakota Fanning) turns to violence for her political beliefs at the age of 16 and then disappears, their world collapses. Based on the 1997 Philip Roth novel of the same name.
American novelist Philip Roth is having a bit of a moment on the big screen.
Recent adaptations of his works have included erotic comedy The Humbling (2014), starring Al Pacino as an ageing actor whose life gets messy; and drama Indignation (2016), which addresses the role of religion in school and the boundaries of personal liberties.
Things continue to fall apart in American Pastoral. At its heart, it poses a question that, unfortunately, continues to resonate today: How is an extremist made?
Merry comes from a loving, well-to-do family and yet she is drawn to the philosophy of violent revolution in a tumultuous period of American history as anger and frustration erupt over the Vietnam War.
Her parents wrestle with guilt even as they are left bewildered and devastated over her actions.
Chameleonic actor McGregor as the grieving father who refuses to give up on his daughter is the emotional centre of the film. As Dawn, Connelly (Requiem For A Dream, 2000) has the tougher arc to pull off, as she goes from grieving mother to brittle socialite.
McGregor, in his directorial debut, does well to juggle both the family drama as well as the bigger events playing out in the background without resorting to preachiness or a need to tie everything up neatly.
But by sticking to the framing device in the book – Roth’s alter ego Nathan Zuckerman attending his high-school reunion and learning about what happened to Swede from his brother Jerry Levov – there is a sense of distance from the events that unfold.
The film recalls a story in The Guardian about mothers in North America and Europe whose children had volunteered to fight for the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – including one who said poignantly that she did not even know what the word “radicalisation” was before finding out that her son was dead.
You can raise children in a loving environment and yet have absolutely no idea how they will turn out.
In other words, American Pastoral is also a horror film for parents.
(ST)
Ewan McGregor
The story: Swede Levov (Ewan McGregor) and his wife Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) seem to have the perfect life. But when their daughter Merry (Dakota Fanning) turns to violence for her political beliefs at the age of 16 and then disappears, their world collapses. Based on the 1997 Philip Roth novel of the same name.
American novelist Philip Roth is having a bit of a moment on the big screen.
Recent adaptations of his works have included erotic comedy The Humbling (2014), starring Al Pacino as an ageing actor whose life gets messy; and drama Indignation (2016), which addresses the role of religion in school and the boundaries of personal liberties.
Things continue to fall apart in American Pastoral. At its heart, it poses a question that, unfortunately, continues to resonate today: How is an extremist made?
Merry comes from a loving, well-to-do family and yet she is drawn to the philosophy of violent revolution in a tumultuous period of American history as anger and frustration erupt over the Vietnam War.
Her parents wrestle with guilt even as they are left bewildered and devastated over her actions.
Chameleonic actor McGregor as the grieving father who refuses to give up on his daughter is the emotional centre of the film. As Dawn, Connelly (Requiem For A Dream, 2000) has the tougher arc to pull off, as she goes from grieving mother to brittle socialite.
McGregor, in his directorial debut, does well to juggle both the family drama as well as the bigger events playing out in the background without resorting to preachiness or a need to tie everything up neatly.
But by sticking to the framing device in the book – Roth’s alter ego Nathan Zuckerman attending his high-school reunion and learning about what happened to Swede from his brother Jerry Levov – there is a sense of distance from the events that unfold.
The film recalls a story in The Guardian about mothers in North America and Europe whose children had volunteered to fight for the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – including one who said poignantly that she did not even know what the word “radicalisation” was before finding out that her son was dead.
You can raise children in a loving environment and yet have absolutely no idea how they will turn out.
In other words, American Pastoral is also a horror film for parents.
(ST)
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
I Hear The Sound Of Dawn
Liang Wern Fook
In his first record since 1992’s Go East, xinyao leading light Liang Wern Fook performs in his inimitable style, that modest, homespun charm still intact as he speaks and sings Xin Yao Li Shi Wai Zhuan (Unofficial History Of Xinyao), a reworking of fan favourite Eve Before The History Exam (1987), in which he namechecks the creators, singers and songs of the home-grown Mandarin music movement.
There is also an update of the 1990 classic, Singapore Pie, which takes into account developments such as MRT train breakdowns and the sky-rocketing of certificate of entitlement prices.
These are songs that chart the ups and downs and growing pains of Singapore. No one does it like Liang, who taps into people’s collective memories – be it goggle-box viewing in Watching Television or listening to the radio on New Flame Meeting Old Love.
Ren Sheng Wu Suo Wei (Life – Fear Not) not only marks the first time that Liang sings a TV series theme song and the breezy track for the long-running series of the same name (2015-2016), but it also fits in a reference to Sang Nila Utama.
This new release was not conceived as an album with a cohesive vision; it is a collection of mostly recent material from the past few years, as well as a few tracks that date back to 1999.
Inevitably, it is thematically disparate, with songs as different as Hear Tomorrow Singing (an ode to teachers) is from Carefree Suzhou (an ode to the Chinese city).
Nevertheless, Sound Of Dawn is a collection of works written by Liang that demonstrates his range as a songwriter, who, apart from crafting social observations, can also compose evocative ballads such as Wish To Tell You. It was penned for the xinyao- themed TV series, Crescendo (2015), and ably performed by local singer A-do.
Unusually, there is one song here which was not composed by him. He wrote the lyrics for Jacky Cheung’s 1999 hit, She Came To Listen To My Concert, while Huang Mingzhou penned the music.
It is a poignant track about the relationship between a singer and his audience and how songs accompany one throughout one’s life. It was a special treat when Liang performed it at his long-overdue first solo concert in April last year.
And now, people have it for posterity.
(ST)
Liang Wern Fook
In his first record since 1992’s Go East, xinyao leading light Liang Wern Fook performs in his inimitable style, that modest, homespun charm still intact as he speaks and sings Xin Yao Li Shi Wai Zhuan (Unofficial History Of Xinyao), a reworking of fan favourite Eve Before The History Exam (1987), in which he namechecks the creators, singers and songs of the home-grown Mandarin music movement.
There is also an update of the 1990 classic, Singapore Pie, which takes into account developments such as MRT train breakdowns and the sky-rocketing of certificate of entitlement prices.
These are songs that chart the ups and downs and growing pains of Singapore. No one does it like Liang, who taps into people’s collective memories – be it goggle-box viewing in Watching Television or listening to the radio on New Flame Meeting Old Love.
Ren Sheng Wu Suo Wei (Life – Fear Not) not only marks the first time that Liang sings a TV series theme song and the breezy track for the long-running series of the same name (2015-2016), but it also fits in a reference to Sang Nila Utama.
This new release was not conceived as an album with a cohesive vision; it is a collection of mostly recent material from the past few years, as well as a few tracks that date back to 1999.
Inevitably, it is thematically disparate, with songs as different as Hear Tomorrow Singing (an ode to teachers) is from Carefree Suzhou (an ode to the Chinese city).
Nevertheless, Sound Of Dawn is a collection of works written by Liang that demonstrates his range as a songwriter, who, apart from crafting social observations, can also compose evocative ballads such as Wish To Tell You. It was penned for the xinyao- themed TV series, Crescendo (2015), and ably performed by local singer A-do.
Unusually, there is one song here which was not composed by him. He wrote the lyrics for Jacky Cheung’s 1999 hit, She Came To Listen To My Concert, while Huang Mingzhou penned the music.
It is a poignant track about the relationship between a singer and his audience and how songs accompany one throughout one’s life. It was a special treat when Liang performed it at his long-overdue first solo concert in April last year.
And now, people have it for posterity.
(ST)
Monday, October 17, 2016
Inferno
Ron Howard
The story: Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), professor of symbology at Harvard University, wakes up in a hospital in Florence with a head injury and no memory of how he got there and what happened in the last few days. When an assassin shows up, his doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), helps him get away. Together, they need to solve a series of clues to reach a deadly pathogen that could wipe out half of Earth’s population. Based on Dan Brown’s 2013 novel of the same name.
One of the pleasures a Dan Brown film adaptation offers is allowing viewers to watch the characters traipse about beloved landmarks and institutions and/or cavalierly handle all manner of cultural treasures – the Louvre’s Mona Lisa in 2006’s The Da Vinci Code (a replica was used) and the Vatican in 2009’s Angels & Demons (although filming did not actually take place there).
In Inferno, viewers get to see Hanks and Jones worming their way through crawlspaces and secret passages in Florence’s monumental town hall, Palazzo Vecchio, and the death mask of Italian poet Dante getting swiped as easily as candy in an unmanned shop.
Dante is the author of the 14th- century epic, Divine Comedy, of which part one is titled Inferno. The movie taps on his idea of hell to present unsettling images of extreme pain and suffering and also, a drawing of it contains the first riddle that Langdon has to solve.
Thanks to veteran director Ron Howard’s sure hand, one gets engrossed in Langdon and Brooks’ race against time in an elaborate game.
Details start to niggle only when one starts to think about them.
Langdon’s head trauma seems at first to be a good idea for the story – it means that the hero is compromised. But as with the recent thriller, The Girl On The Train (2016), the director makes use of a far too convenient plot device: what the protagonist forgets, or remembers – and when.
Also, does one really need a professor of symbology to make sense of the clues? As Brooks deftly demonstrates in one scene, a Google search could be just as helpful.
Then again, that would not make for a popcorn flick that people would want to watch.
(ST)
Ron Howard
The story: Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), professor of symbology at Harvard University, wakes up in a hospital in Florence with a head injury and no memory of how he got there and what happened in the last few days. When an assassin shows up, his doctor, Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), helps him get away. Together, they need to solve a series of clues to reach a deadly pathogen that could wipe out half of Earth’s population. Based on Dan Brown’s 2013 novel of the same name.
One of the pleasures a Dan Brown film adaptation offers is allowing viewers to watch the characters traipse about beloved landmarks and institutions and/or cavalierly handle all manner of cultural treasures – the Louvre’s Mona Lisa in 2006’s The Da Vinci Code (a replica was used) and the Vatican in 2009’s Angels & Demons (although filming did not actually take place there).
In Inferno, viewers get to see Hanks and Jones worming their way through crawlspaces and secret passages in Florence’s monumental town hall, Palazzo Vecchio, and the death mask of Italian poet Dante getting swiped as easily as candy in an unmanned shop.
Dante is the author of the 14th- century epic, Divine Comedy, of which part one is titled Inferno. The movie taps on his idea of hell to present unsettling images of extreme pain and suffering and also, a drawing of it contains the first riddle that Langdon has to solve.
Thanks to veteran director Ron Howard’s sure hand, one gets engrossed in Langdon and Brooks’ race against time in an elaborate game.
Details start to niggle only when one starts to think about them.
Langdon’s head trauma seems at first to be a good idea for the story – it means that the hero is compromised. But as with the recent thriller, The Girl On The Train (2016), the director makes use of a far too convenient plot device: what the protagonist forgets, or remembers – and when.
Also, does one really need a professor of symbology to make sense of the clues? As Brooks deftly demonstrates in one scene, a Google search could be just as helpful.
Then again, that would not make for a popcorn flick that people would want to watch.
(ST)
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Head Over Heels
Angela Chang
If Taiwan’s Angela Chang had a signature song, it would be Invisible Wings. The ballad from her third album Pandora (2006) has a message of hope and encouragement that resonates strongly with fans.
The opening track here, I’m Not Afraid, is in the same vein. It starts with Chang musing on the universality of pain (“Everyone is struggling/Everyone has somewhere they wish to go”) before she soars with the imagery of flight (“I’m flying through the dark night/Searching for that starlight that is mine/Though I know that honesty will get you hurt/I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid”).
The sentiment is familiar, but the track still works, thanks to its memorable melodic riff and her full- blooded delivery. Perhaps such songs strike a chord with Chang personally, who had to overcome a very public and unpleasant splitting of ways from her mother in the late noughties.
Another strong number here is the power ballad, Before Goodbye. She croons: “I’ve made it through those few years of utmost pain/All those familiar people, every face makes me reminisce.”
In contrast, the peppy joy-of-falling-in-love title track feels a little out of place here. But her fans should be happy to see this buoyant side of her.
(ST)
Angela Chang
If Taiwan’s Angela Chang had a signature song, it would be Invisible Wings. The ballad from her third album Pandora (2006) has a message of hope and encouragement that resonates strongly with fans.
The opening track here, I’m Not Afraid, is in the same vein. It starts with Chang musing on the universality of pain (“Everyone is struggling/Everyone has somewhere they wish to go”) before she soars with the imagery of flight (“I’m flying through the dark night/Searching for that starlight that is mine/Though I know that honesty will get you hurt/I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid”).
The sentiment is familiar, but the track still works, thanks to its memorable melodic riff and her full- blooded delivery. Perhaps such songs strike a chord with Chang personally, who had to overcome a very public and unpleasant splitting of ways from her mother in the late noughties.
Another strong number here is the power ballad, Before Goodbye. She croons: “I’ve made it through those few years of utmost pain/All those familiar people, every face makes me reminisce.”
In contrast, the peppy joy-of-falling-in-love title track feels a little out of place here. But her fans should be happy to see this buoyant side of her.
(ST)
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