There is a tired adage from an earlier, less enlightened time that says, “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” Kipling, I believe, commenting on the unreconcilable differences between far-flung cultures. But the world is a different place now, smaller and connected in a way he could hardly envisage. It is through such connectivity and creativity, such a blending of genre and geography, country and culture, as we find on Tian Qiyi’s latest album, Songs For Workers, that we make his outdated statement fade even further into obscurity.
Tian Qiyi’s genre-defying sound is a product of the band’s two members, brothers John Tian Qi Wardle and Charlie Tian Yi Wardle, a sound that reflects their family heritage. Not only do the cultural influences of their Chinese mother, Zilan Liao, seep into the music, but so does the pioneering work in the realms of post-punk and dub done by their father John Wardle, under his more recognisable musical moniker, Jah Wobble.
And so, with such rich and adventurous forces at work, how could their music not be unique, exciting, and forward-thinking? Songs such as “Dharma” typify the music so well, a blend of Irish, Chinese, and Mongolian sounds that not only sum up the brother’s rich heritage but come together to create something that, whilst unfamiliar, seems to echo with the ancient and the half remebered memories, timeless strands which form a, perhaps unlikely, bond in the modern world.
Some songs seem to embody a more oriental vibrancy, “Luoyang,” for example, is a riot of eastern sonic spice and spirit; others, like “Mongolian Dub,” wander through strange otherworlds and collide at impossible sonic meeting points, as the title suggests, while “The Route of Desire” heads into slightly arabesque psychedelic pop realms.
These ten tracks that make up the band’s second album form a body of work that is thoroughly beguiling, a rich tapestry of Eastern traditions and Western groove, music that crosses borders, both physical and less tangible, a sound that feels both unique to the head and familiar to the soul a set of songs that is brilliantly unpredictable and undeniably awe-inspiring.
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Mongolian Dub ft. Jah Wobble
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