It’s hard to resist an album with track titles such as “Pond, Grief and Glee” and “Sand, Fable and Tiger Balm.” Such titles hearken back to childhood while honoring the power of three. Li Yilei uses childhood instruments ~ some irrevocably broken, such as bird whistles, an old accordion, a music box and a toy piano ~ to revisit, and perhaps reevaluate a period known as nonage. The word refers to the time frame in which a Chinese child’s “hair is let down” and they are encouraged to experiment: a time that passes all too quickly, is replaced by vast expectation, and often takes a lifetime to rediscover. Thankfully, Li Yilei has been able to do so here. One can hear the curiosity as the artist holds old, cherished instruments, wondering what secrets they may whisper about identity, reality and the soul of objects.
The album begins with disjointed piano, scribbling and voice. As the liner notes are not specific by track, one wonders if this is one of the piano samples from Li Yilei’s childhood, resurrected for this release. An old TV program plays in the background, evoking images of children in front of the set, brandishing toy pianos, chalk in tiny hands. Once upon a time, the artist fell in love with the art of creation; today, the artist constructs instruments from scratch. Vinyl crackle hurtles listeners back in time as well. By the end of “Go, Little Book,” the timbres have evened out, as if memories have been incorporated. And yet the sense of experimentation continues.
After a cassette tape stop-and-start, “O O O O” settles into a surprising electronic groove, one of the album’s most melodic segments, then slows like a toy whose battery is winding down and speeds as if shaken. “Pond, Grief and Glee” is a reminder that childhood is not all innocence and fun, but also sadness, confusion and fear. All too often the period is idealized, even infantilized; Li Yilei rejects any tug in this direction, choosing a more realistic depiction.
In “++++”, bird whistles and beeps join the sound of a children’s playground. Is it all joy and play, or are some children being judged, teased, excluded? The disheveled music imitates not only the nonage of hair but of emotion. As ambient phrases enter on subsequent tracks, one feels that the artist has reached a tentative peace. The titles and timbres of closing tracks “Pillow, Mantra and Trance” and “Thé Noir, Rêvasser, Retrouvailles” (“Black Tea, Dreaming, Reunion”) reinforce this idea. A metaphor of damaged objects has been incorporated into a larger narrative of sound, a Little Book filled with healing and grace. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 