- Enigmatic techno made from a "Pandora's box" of musical instruments.
- After her first piano lesson, Mei Yuxin, AKA Temple Rat, was told by her tutor that she wasn't "suitable" for the instrument. The teacher's ignorance hurt her, but in some ways it was a blessing in disguise. She instead picked up and mastered the erhu, a two-string, vertical fiddle that first appeared in China more than 1000 years ago. While Mei was confined to her apartment during Shanghai's oppressive lockdowns, the erhu was her trusted companion and portal into musical experimentation.
On her debut EP, for Siamese Twins Records, she embraces unconventional erhu techniques, including plucking, tapping and distorting the strings, creating a familiar yet otherworldly allure. But her sonic toolbox goes beyond just the erhu. The Composition Of Air is built around what Mei calls her "Pandora's Box"—a self-made soundboard of springs, steel plates and music boxes, which produce mesmerising low-end frequencies. Mei harmonises these disparate elements with historical field recordings into dubby, often mind-bending techno and club music.
On the cinematic opener, "Dreaming of Electric Sheep," brooding basslines and lonely piano pierce the atmosphere, while the whistle of a steam train edges closer, as if Mei were scoring the opening of a John Carpenter film. But as the train pulls into the station, a cuddly synth line and heartbeat kick drum levels out the vibe, like the feeling of letting go of a past relationship.
Mei turns mystical on the standout title track, which sounds a bit like her own take on Underworld's "Dark and Long." Arpeggios ascend and dance alongside undulating bass—a spellbinder primed for crowds in the early witching hours. She keeps the momentum up on psychotropic closer "东风," where elastic acid leads reverberate over a backdrop of thumping war drums. It's only a few BPMs short of full-on, Goa trance.
From the Dead Can Dance-style syncretic ritual on "Rooted in the Soil of Your Heritage," which features Portuguese artist Meta_, to the preservation of traditional Asian instruments, Mei pays homage to Siamese Twins Records' "tribally-rooted" sound with immersive worlds that explore Pan-Asian spirituality. Mei's knack for sound design and imagination for instrumentation comes across clearly in this first release of swirling, atmospheric techno.
Tracklist01. Dreaming Of Electric Sheep
02. Rooted In The Soil Of Your Heritage feat. Meta_
03. The Composition Of Air
04. 東風