Live Review from Underground 111
- Down by the River
- Zero
- Fear
- Tear Me Down
- Thank You
- Repeat & Play
Unlike the previous band, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Weisan by looking at them. And this turned out to be for good reason; there are certainly two opposing forces in their music. What is evidently the lesser one, is a very alternative rocky side and this is mostly the instruments; the straight-ahead rockiness was supplemented with some mild funkiness on the guitar to hit the higher notes, when combined with the piano sounds much like the smooth light-melancholy of 90s Fiona Apple. However, there’s also a much more Jewel-like side, with a folky breeziness to it, and these two styles mix well, giving the music a simple-yet-powerful appeal, and a vocal pleasantness that I can only compare to looking at a matte photo (if that makes any sense to anyone else), or to Debbie Harry, Either. Indeed, Down by the River had a texture similar to Turn! Turn! Turn!, which I think says it all. Possibly my favourite thing about the vocals is that I’ve finally found a female singer who just sings. No technical shortcuts, no affectation, just singing in a nice-sounding voice, which is heartening to hear.
One thing that the music is, is polished; it’s very polished. There’s a feel of calm professionalism about the composition and arrangements of the songs, which is a rare and very good quality for an indie band to display, which was on show in spades in Tear Me Down in particular. Thank You was a very Cat Power-like song, with a simple melody, dominant piano, and the obligatory slightly fuzzy feeling inside one’s chest. Repeat & Play was a great closer, sounding like a song by Indian composer RD Burman, which is even more unusual to her. The only one I thought was a bit off was the synth-poppy Fear, but it was entirely tolerable, so I can’t complain. Now that Weisan is based in HK, hopefully we get to hear a lot more of this band and listen to them progress, and they did an immaculate job of elevating the show’s energy even higher. They’re definitely worth checking out if they’re playing near you, so keep an eye out for them.
— Shashwati Kala
Weisan 這隊樂隊的風格是4隊中最難捉摸，歌曲傾向屬於流行音調但編曲比一般流行曲複雜得多，樂器都在互相配合的基礎下各自發揮其技術。全晚共6首歌曲中開場的Down By the River 最能反映樂隊特色：和弦及和聲運用花過心思，分拆開聆聽各部份樂器都各有自已的旋律，合聲效果時而怪異時而配合，很有個人風格。終曲Repeat & Play中段即興演唱的轉音穩定，技巧有一定水準。
– Becky Wong
