samedi 26 décembre 2015

Click + Listen #67 : RAINBOW CHAN

RAINBOW CHAN
Sydney, Australia
Record labels : Silo Arts & Records
Facebook / Soundcloud / Bandcamp / her Youtube / Twitter


Rainbow Chan - Fruit (official music video)
At the beginning of the video, a man says in Cantonese "Excuse me, are there five pineapples ?"

Sydney-based Rainbow Chan is a solo multi-instrumentalist singer, songwriter and producer with a love for story-telling. She is known for her two main music projects, linked to each other but different. She described her songs as "retro-pop with hints of R&B and Japanese and Chinese post-punkish disco" for the first project under her real English name Rainbow Chan. Her second project under the moniker Chunyin (Facebook / Soundcloud) is focused on electronic music without her singing voice.

Rainbow Chan released two singles, "Sweet Tooth" in 2011 and "Rabbit and Fox" in 2012.


The song "Star Picking" was on her Soundcloud in 2011 :



Her latest EP "Long Vacation" released in July 2013 is a gem. It was written, performed, produced, recorded and mixed by herself. Her voice is the first thing that could keep you listening to the songs, while noticing the smart use of sounds, harmonies and mixes she made. Her music videos are quite something too (here and here), fresh, new and offbeat.
I don't have any friend who grew up listening to Cantonese pop and classics of the golden years 1970-1990s by Chinese singers. I hope some of the readers from different countries here could relate to it, I'm sure some of you might have noticed a few things on the cover art which remind you of 1970s Hong Kong CDs : Rainbow's portrait and pose, her clothes, the colors and the typography. Isn't it well designed ? In the "Fool's Gold" video, it's a good offbeat choice for featuring a picture of one of the most popular 1980-90s Hong Kong singer Aaron Kwok/郭富城 -- I remember him best as the Cantopop singer who always has a choregraphy on TVB music shows. I guess that Rainbow grew up in a family from Hong Kong who listens to Cantopop and Mandopop songs and that she seems to be a fan of Mr. Kwok.



Favorite tracks : Rabbit and Fox, Star Picking, In A Foreign Tongue, Skippy Dipping, Fool's Gold, Haircut, Fruit
I like her Rainbow Chan project more than the Chunyin one, but it doesn't mean it's not good. Both projects show her ability to produce songs in different music genres, an artist who can play with different sounds.

You might have listened to hundreds of covers of "Lovefool" by the Cardigans, but I think you need to listen to Rainbow's version :



She's probably working on her Rainbow Chan album for 2016 while she's busy with the Chunyin project.

To read :
- Chunyin, interview by The Ladies Network

Discover other great artists on the CLICK+LISTEN series.