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review by Dene Bebbington Put together plenty of bass, funky grooves and rhythms, some traditional Asian instruments, guitars, harmonica, plus some vocals, and one possible result is Hong Kong Dub-Station. Producer and composer Peter Millward has again collaborated under the name Celestial with several excellent musicians. Giving the album an Asian flavour are two renowned Hong Kong musicians - Hsin Hsiao Hung on Erhu and Shakuhachi player Sunny Yeung. Over the sixteen song length tracks (the longest is only six minutes) there are a variety of styles, though a few tracks are somewhat easygoing the majority are upbeat and have a happy nature. Occasionally there are some lyrics sung by a female vocalist, not always in English. Past meets present, and countryside meets urban bustle, is the alliance made when Shakuhachi and Erhu are playing alongside modern beats and rhythms. After the short opening track "Sea of Tranquility" featuring the hollow reedy tones of the Shakuhachi, the album gets going with the piece "Pounding Waves". Bouncing drum and restrained bass sounds form a structure over which we hear an Asian flavoured melody played on most of the instruments. This must be the first album I've heard where on one track you can hear Erhu, guitar, and harmonica! Things get a little unusual on the track "Ponchartrain" as it includes a narrated story. The lead melody somehow made me think of old Western films, and the harmonica only adds to this impression. An American sounding narrator makes you think this is a story about the old American west, it actually turns out to be a story of a village in Laos being bombed with napalm. Even though the album hangs together quite well, it's curious how it does this while taking some detours from the oriental Asian rhythmic dub that makes up most of the album. Towards the end we find that the fast moving track "How Insensitive" has female vocals, nice melodies and rhythms put together in a slightly techno manner that would make it suitable for a dance club. Dub isn't my usual kind of listening and I'm not likely to become a big fan of it. What I can say is that I've enjoyed listening to Hong Kong Dub-Station; it's kind of whimsical, occasionally serious, but mostly fun and undemanding. |
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