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: My parents used to term any arthouse film a “Wong Kar-Wai” because they usually didn’t get the storyline or themes. I really admire Wong’s visually and emotionally rich films. You need a lot of patience to grasp the slow unfolding of the narrative, and most of the time you feel unsatisfied with the characters’ fates. In Chungking Express, one of the characters wonders whether there is anything in life that doesn’t expire while holding cans of pineapples and sardines. I feel it is a particularly poignant theme because I am both frightened and obsessed with the inevitable demise of all things: love, life, beauty, health, success, etc.
Video after the jump.
