Sydney pop songstress by way of Hong Kong, Rainbow Chan records her music in the same place that her zany garb and shoes reside: her closet. After realizing her original artistic focus of being an oh-so-experimental singer/songwriter was not for her, Chan turned to something a little more her: infectious pop music out of left field. What resulted from this genre jump is the Long Vacation EP (Silo Arts), which is named after a 1996 Japanese TV drama. She claims the inspiration for the six tracks consist of, but not limited to, glockenspiels and music boxes, Frédéric Chopin and Steve Reich, girl groups and electronics, Hong Kong pop, Shanghai jazz, American rhythm ‘n’ blues and Japanese television theme songs. Chan will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all this week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Chan: I collect music boxes and have a growing collection from my travels. There’s something wonderfully bittersweet about the various tones—the sound of winding it up, the soft hum of gears turning, the twinkly percussiveness and the abrupt end to the loop. I have started to make my own music-box melodies by punching my own paper scroll and playing it through a manual music-box, not unlike a mini pianola. The process is tedious and very involved. However, it’s wonderful to know that once the scroll is finished, the music lasts forever. The first time I created a music-box melody and heard it back, I cried.
Video after the jump.
