Released: 22.05.18 / Label: Self-released
I’m not a huge fan of this kind of song, but you gotta respect the musicianship of WANG GUNG BAND. This song is definitely on my recommendation list as a must-listen for fans of the genre.
The track is well-composed with great band and horn parts. The doubled vocals could have been better, but they still work. The piece features really good linear lines throughout, but as the song progresses, the various parts add up and it becomes a bit crowded by the end. Stricter editing may have helped, as the song ends up losing some power due to its own weight.
Overall, the performances on the recording are wonderful. The large group showcases a lot of skilled playing, and the speak-sing vocals are particularly impressive. However, for a love song it lacks the strong emotion found in the genre. This may be due to the band’s lack of recording experience, they formed in 2020. Even so, I’m looking forward to hearing future recordings where they can relax and fully immerse themselves in the music.
The song’s lyrics are super cute, telling a love story through memories with the music taking over during the more romantic moments. It’s very well written. Between the lyric blocks, however, we get some weird ‘yeah yeah yeah‘s that seem unnecessary. With this many instrumentalists the vocals don’t need to stay center stage all the time.
For a new band the recording is impressive. There are a few sections where the room suddenly sounds gigantic, from experience I’d say that they need to learn how to phrase dynamics for the mics. But in general the sound is great. Unfortunately, the mix just doesn’t do the composition justice. All of the parts come off a bit flat, and messy. The climax of the song ends up muffled due to too many moving parts, and it has less impact than even the quietest part of the song. I would love to hear a remixed version of the song later on in the group’s career.
Stream or download the track
