OUC003 : Baishui / Sound In Motion: Prologue - Puzzle Suite

Cover art by A.L.

OUC003 : Baishui / Sound In Motion: Prologue - Puzzle suite

After releasing his post-rock-prog-folk single " No Intrinsic, No Independent" (see OAS003), Baishui returns with two completely different albums: Prologue and Puzzle Suite.

Born in a small Sichuanese city, Baishui is a composer and self-taught guitarist, pianist and master of many traditional Chinese instruments, whose compositions and performance have ranged across his career from neo-folk and dark-ambient-influenced music to experimental and post-rock sounds—and beyond.

"Throughout Baishui’s work, a near-religious serenity and atmosphere transports one to a faraway place; foreign yet familiar; where Baishui, and his listeners, seem to be the only residents."  Jonathan Campbell

1: Prologue

About Prologue, better read what Luo Keju & Jonathan Campbell have written about it:

"Sound, which we experience in fascinating and abstract ways, is difficult to describe. 

From the three-piece prog- and post-rock sound of City of Lost to his first attempt at minimalist glitches Diary of Broken Sounds, prolific Sichuan musician Baishui has been searching for ways to describe and enable the experience of sound. In pieces or as a whole; violent or delicate; carefully-composed or improvised: The search for the balance of these, and other, opposites in the various moments of his work is what Baishui's music has been about. 

In a new series of projects -- Sound in Motion -- Baishui examines the relationship between sound and movement. Whether in terms of sound's motion or changing, the project is intentionally open-ended; Baishui lays the musical foundations upon which a range of artists from a variety of backgrounds are invited to build through collaboration. 

Sound in Motion: Prologue is the series' first release, with four musicians representing different genres participating in their own unique ways. It originates from a field recording or a photograph with which collaborators are encouraged to employ in their own ways; Baishui then combines the contributions into a final product. There is no certain end point to the project; rather, the very nature of sound emerges from the somewhat random creative process. 

More releases, as well as performances, are now being prepared for the series' future stages. A perpetually-evolving project, artists from across modern dance, visual and installation art as well as sound artists of all kinds are sought to maintain the motion essential to the series."

A marvelous video:

Originally released in December 2015.

all music by baishui 
produced by baishui, luo keju 
sounds & instruments by baishui 
analog synthesizer by luo keju 
mixed & mastered by luo keju 
original photo by baishui 
design and layout by sun yunfan, deng zhang, yuan tian 
guest artists: yuan tian (#00 vocal performing), lanre (#00 vocal samples), yao chunyang (#01 electronics), lin tianran (#03 vocal performing)

Original cover

2: Puzzle Suite

Puzzle Suite is the second full-length album of Sound in Motion Series, which is a suite composed of single sound material. Sichuan musician Baishui tried to use relatively simple improvisation instrumental recording, vocal samples as well as field recording to create a sound poem without words. 

Originally released on September 2016.

all music composed by baishui except vocal performance (#1, 3, 8) 

produced by baishui 

ruan, guitar, bamboo flute, bells by baishui 

cymbals by chen ran (#7) 

vocal by yao chunyang (#1), yuan tian (#3), anna (#8) 

recorded at blanksounds studio by baishui 

field recorded in fuxing, xiamen, yibin by baishui (#2, 5, 6) 

edited, mixed & mastered by baishui 

original photo by achiu 

design & layout by yuan tian 

cover artist is zhang dianling 

Original cover

Digital release on the 12th of May 2017.

Digitally distributed on KKBOX for all the Asian friends who want to listen and discover!

Track listing:

1: Prologue:

1) Prologue #00

2) Prologue #01

3) Prologue #02

4) Prologue #03

5) Prologue #04

2: Puzzle Suite:

1) Five Grains of Sand (feat. Yao Chunyang)

2) Four Strings

3) Dwarf (feat. Yuan Tian)

4) Migraine

5) Assassination

6) Stone Frog River

7) Strange Moth (feat. Chen Ran)

8) This Soul of Mine (feat. Anna)

And on Bandcamp: