SY3 (say it together: "sigh") is a new project out of LA comprised of Kelly Guan, Alex Ho, and Phil Cho. The SY3 crew are all multi-instrumentalists and bonded over a shared love of nice things like Hong Kong new wave cinema, Cantopop, and RnB. They've got a lovely new record coming out on Music from Memory 25-March. (TP's own Martyn Pepperell gave it a nice preview HERE). The vibe is really special and really NOW, at the same time giving more than a wink at their influences. TP had a nice retro e-mail exchange with Phil Cho to talk about the record and pick out a few balearic Cantopop cuts. SY3 are proper film heads, click the links below to add to your Letterboxd. X
“...our music draws from...neon-drenched cityscapes...“
We are big fans of Alex's "Move Through It" on MFM from a few years back. Phil, you did some guitar work for the album - how did you guys meet up?
Alex and I have known each other for well over a decade now… I believe we first met at a 48-hour party in San Francisco put on by Icee Hot. We don’t really get those kinds of parties on the West Coast so a lot of the LA dance music scene went. Since then, we’ve collaborated on all sorts of parties, and gradually started working in studio settings – mostly just passing time – but over the years a few things have started to surface including Alex’s album and now this SY3 project with singer Kelly Guan aka Jia Pet.
梦游 / Sleepwalker has such a sweet melancholy vibe...obvious reference points are Christopher Doyle's cinematography/colouring, furtive glances in the hallway...any more? Or is everyone just sad & beautiful in LA? :)
Kelly and Alex are both quite big into Chinese cinema, so a lot of the world and mood building in our music draws from those neon-drenched cityscapes. Films like Made in Hong Kong, Rebels of the Neon God, and Suzhou River all speak to a generation of disillusioned urban youth, and that melancholy is something we connect with here in, as you put it, “sad and beautiful” Los Angeles.
I love spoken word tracks and your title track has a story spoken in Cantonese layered against a gorgeous backdrop of acoustic piano and electronics...could you tell us a bit about the story?
This song was directly inspired by the Wong Kar-Wai produced film First Love, the Litter on the Breeze. The film is made up of many fragmented stories including one about a sleepwalking young woman who falls in love with a garbage collector after she discovers that he keeps her safe each night as she wanders the streets of Hong Kong. Our track tells a similar story, with some rain involved and a slightly more broken love story. The ambient production loosely references a melody from a track by Dou Wei, a prolific Beijing-based artist who worked closely with Faye Wong in her seminal dream pop era.
Are you going to be taking this music live? Any upcoming gigs?
Funny enough, we actually performed these tracks live before completing the EP. We’re working on updating the set with a few new songs, and organizing a release party somewhere interesting in Los Angeles (TBD on that). We also loosely have plans to make it over to Asia later this year and play a few shows!
Tell us a bit about your track selection.
For our track selection, we’ve shared five of our favorite balearic Canto/Mando pop songs from the ‘80s and ‘90s. There are endless tracks from this world, and we’re happy to share it :)
“Crazy Love” is a B-side from Sandy Lam’s iconic 1988-1990 City Rhythm "都市觸覺" trilogy. The track has a bit of a Janet Jackson vibe to me with Lam’s soft, but deeply passionate vocal. The restrained digital production (gotta love the DX7) is just perfect — that chord at 0:45 !!!
Leslie Cheung - 滴汗 (1989)
This cover of Robbie Dupree’s “Are You Ready for Love” immediately came to mind when we were discussing “balearic” Cantopop tracks. Leslie Cheung was the only openly-queer Asian superstar in the '90s, and starred in Wong Kar-Wai’s LGBTQ classic Happy Together opposite Tony Leung. The slow tempo, percussion, and spoken refrain are a total late-night balearic mood.
藍月亮 - 李克勤 (1989)
“Half Moon Serenade” is a Cantopop cover of a City Pop song by Anzenchitai. Hacken Lee’s version is arguably smoother with nylon-string guitar replacing the electrified shredding of the original. There’s also a great music video where Lee walks through the streets of Hong Kong in a white suit.
Recorded in Hollywood, Johnny Chen’s “不合的颜色 (Two Different Colors)” hits on a downtempo neo soul and R&B groove that cruises alongside his smooth Mandopop vocal. Alex, Kelly, and I grew up with American R&B so it’s been a lovely experience later discovering familiar sounds like this one sung in Chinese. Shoutout to Diego Olivas who shared both this one and the last on his incredible Fond/Sound blog.
The second single from 梦游 Sleepwalker is out today, check it out on YT HERE
Full EP is available from 25-March from Music from Memory direct, your favourite record shop, and on Bandcamp HERE.
