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Yisa Yu
China’s Yisa Yu ventured into singer-songwriter territory on a handful of songs in her last album, Warm Water (2014).
So it is disappointing to find that she has completely relinquished composing and lyric-writing duties to others on her fifth album.
The good news is that her crystalline voice is as lovely as ever and there are a couple of noteworthy tracks here – opening number Revert flows as gently as water in a lazy brook, while Solitude Again is a dramatic ballad which Yu navigates with aplomb.
Elevator is a slice-of-life track that touches on the ups and downs of urban romances. With a light touch, Yu sings the observant lyrics by singer-songwriter Jin Wenqi: “A newly married couple has moved in on the seventh floor/We met yesterday in the lift/He didn’t hear her sighing.”
Maybe she could take things to the next level with a return to songwriting on her next record.
(ST)