Versatility is a great and valued quality in today’s musicians. In their search for other creative outlets beyond their classical training, YST violist Mervin Wong (BMus Year 4) and voice major Lim Jingjie (BMus Year 2) have both branched out into other genres of music, releasing their own work on independent platforms such as Spotify.
Mervin, who composes and records under the moniker ‘theemptybluesky’, will be celebrating the launch of his full-length debut Aphelion this Friday (23 February.) “I feel that Aphelion is something that can’t be classified under a single broad genre or style category,” Mervin explains. “It is electronic based, but then there are various elements of ambient music, as well as electronica. Rather than thinking about genre, I’m actually going for a certain type of sound while creating Aphelion, one that is unique to the album, as well as my sound.”
Mervin also feels that his classical training as a violist forms a great part of who he is as an electronic artist. “The album is an attempt to challenge the currents of what the current musical landscape holds, as well as my own musical traditions and conventions. In a way I feel both bound and freed by training and tradition. It’s kind of like what they say, that you need to be aware of the rules in order to break them.”
Likewise, Jingjie values his classical training as a vocalist when recording music for his contemporary pop alter-ego KEAT. Having collaborated with Mervin to record his debut single ‘Eugene’, which was released last December, Jingjie drew inspiration from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin. The music video for ‘Eugene’ – which Jingjie recorded with other YST students Emilea Teo (BMus Year 2, Recording Arts & Sciences) and Shubangi Das (BMus Year 2, Voice) – will also be released this Friday
For more information about theemptybluesky’s album launch, please visit https://www.theemptybluesky.com. Limited tickets are still available for his album launch on 23 February.
For more information about KEAT and his single ‘Eugene’, please visit https://www.facebook.com/jjiskeat
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