Studying Music: Summer Lei, Huang Jian Wei, Faith Yang

Two awesome albums came out today: Summer Lei's "the light of darkness" and Faith Yang's "Dame." Since I just started my cramming fest for winter finals, I've been listening to a lot of relaxing, mellow studying music lately (aka Cheer ^_^). Thus, these two new & very much anticipated albums gave me even more motivations to study :o)

photo credit: Sundance = 放晴

Faith Yang (Yang Nai Wen)'s new album is quite special. Not only has it been 5 years since she last released an album, Faith is the the producer of her new album - she chose all the songs (written by lots of nice indie artists too ^_^) , and even wrote a song herself - "Be in Love." Thus, "Dame" is a very personal album.

"Dame" is again filled with mostly nice & slow ballads and a couple of upbeat, catchy songs with Faith's powerful voice. However, I'm actually most impressed with the song Faith wrote herself. It diverges from what she usually sings and is a bit experimental. I love it - the dreaminess, the ambivalence...she should definitely write more songs in the future *_^

http://www.faithyang.com/


Sample Song: Be In Love + Hidden Track: 女爵 (鬼魅版) (Dame - Ghosts Version)



Summer Lei (Lei Kuang Hsia) - another Taiwanese singer + songwriter I admire, also haven't released an album for 3 years until today. "the light of darkness" is just what she does best - relaxing, calming piano/guitar melodies with her soft & semi-deep/entrancing voice. I love the beauty in the simplicity and pureness of her songs. Summer's albums are also personal in that she sings about her life, her past, her friends... sorta like a soundtrack of life. The light of darkness of life.

http://www.cizoo.com/summer/


Sample Song: 我的 80 年代 (Our 80's)


photo credit: Sundance = 放晴

Another recently released, really, really nice folk album by a new Taiwan artist - Huang Jian Wei, is also super mellow & good study/relaxing music. Hehe I really like the description of him - "Occupational Therapist by day, acoustic guitar singer by night, singing about a simple life with his guitar on the rooftop barefooted." I wish I could do that. There really isn't a song that's not awesome on this album - including the instrumental breaks. The whole album pretty much just consists of Jian Wei's unique, soft voice and his guitar, giving me a sunny, relaxed, and happy feeling.

http://events.roodo.com/overtheway/index.htm



Sample Song: Over the Way