Sometimes experimental music can produce either dour listening or tie itself to miserable cover art showing the worst of humanity in some sort of fetishistic way. Not so with this release! London-based Chinese composer Li Yilei’s album concentrates more of a happy, carefree childhood, where, as she puts it, “…learn[ed] about fear and fearlessness, love and despair, grief and glee, curiosity and mistakes.” Sitting back and listening to this after hearing my own Chinese geography students caterwauling for nearly two hours is balm for the soul. A gentle listen that deserves a more appropriate tag than “experimental,” as much as I love the genre.
