Eleventh full-length from WANG WEN - 100,000 Whys!
Over their 22 year-long career, WANG WEN have reached a profoundness of intention in their music that reflects in the massive soundscapes that they bring on record and from the stage. It comes as no surprise that in these dire times, the band delivers a record that speaks to humanity on a universal scale. “100,000 Whys” arguably presents the band at their most accessible since the release of 2012’s 0.7, but also at the height of their ability to create moments of high tension and exhilarating release.
Between the recording and the release of 100,000 Whys, Wang Wen shared a documentary titled “Seven Thousand Hows” with the world, chronicling a three day trip to Nepal, where the band participated in a benefit concert for the victims of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. ‘When people are talking about music, and people are talking about peace and love. We play music as a reminder that you are a human being, not a beast. You are different from the beast,’ declares band leader Xie Yugang from the stage of Purple Haze Rock Bar in Kathmandu.
Isolation and togetherness, collective and individual. These have been themes that pervaded the work of Wang Wen over the course of their career. The album title, inspired by a line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “I Keep Six Honest Serving Men” reflects the collective confusion felt at the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing restrictions that governments instated to deal with this crisis.
Around the time of the outbreak, Wang Wen, having just finished composing material for their eleventh full-length, found themselves locked in their hometown of Dalian, a large port-city in the north of China. Instead of recording their album in St. Petersburg, Russia, as planned, they decided to put 100,000 Whys to tape in their own rehearsal space in the Dalian Urban Music Center. Again Wang Wen requested the services of producer Wouter Vlaminck.
Drenched in heavily filtered synthesizers and fuzzed out bass sounds, 100,000 Whys carries a vintage feel that hearkens back to the late 60s and early 70s. Meanwhile the scratches and glitches around the edges of the music reveal a distinctly contemporary attitude.
FOR FANS OF: RADIOHEAD, MONO, 1099, RADARE, CONDOR GRUPPE, GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, CASPIAN, IF THESE TREES COULD TALK
1. Forgotten
2. The Ghost
3. Wu Wu Road
4. If Tomorrow Comes
5. A Beach Bum
6. Lonely Bird
7. Shut Up And Play
8. Forgotten River