Imperfections
Ellen Loo

Fabulous
Sammi Cheng

There seems to be a lot weighing on Hong Kong singer-songwriter Ellen Loo’s mind.
On her latest solo Mandarin album, images of destruction and perversion of the natural world flit across tracks such as the guitar- and-tambourine-accompanied Mai Kong Qi De Ren (literally The Man Selling Air) and the flamenco- tinged Wu He (No Seeds).
She paints a bleak picture of the former: “Who dares to put a price tag on the water and land, air, forests/No responsibility, no life, nobody leaves here alive”.
On the song Ka Dai (Cassette), she wonders if she is out of step with everyone else: “The world outside wants me to go faster.../But I’m stuck in rewind in the machine”.
While she explores unusual territory lyrically, the music feels a little less engaging at first compared with that of her previous albums The Ripples (2011) and You’re Nobody To Me (2012).
The electro-pop of Through The Hurdles, which Loo composed with Hong Kong pop star Sammi Cheng for her Cantonese record Fabulous is more immediate. The uplifting dance number features lyrics by Lin Xi: “Through the hurdles, do you need permission from the world to be happy/Through the hurdles, only if you can let things go can you carry them”.
There is a good mix of fast and slow songs here, including radio- friendly numbers such as ballad I’m Not A Singer and mid-tempo track 8km.
She breaks into full-on dance diva mode with Incredible and the title track, on which she proclaims: “We make it fabulous”. Yes indeed, she does.
(ST)