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CHECK OUT | EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: The Lovesong (RIP) from Hong Kong

By on July 30, 2015

The Livelong

Hong Kong is one of those weird animals where as international as the city the seems to be, in reality it stands pretty divided – and the largest groups seem to be the local Chinese population and then the expat population. Minorities like Nepalese, Indian, Filipino, Pakistani all fall into a whole different group – wouldn’t they/shouldn’t they also be termed “expats”? No idea why and how minorities got separated from the “expat” population – but that’s the case here. Expats stand for mainly caucasian folk who come to Hong Kong for work and remain here for a few years or the rest of their lives.

Music for some strange reason has also remained pretty divided in much the same way…there has certainly always been a majority local Chinese scene and then the much smaller expat scene. For awhile bands have tried to bridge that divide solely by pushing the music…but most expat bands stick to performing in front of a predominantly expat crowd, and the local Chinese bands in front of a predominantly Chinese crowd. Don’t know why it is this way here but it has been the case for decades…

Amongst the few bands that began in the expat world and were able to bridge over and capture the hearts of both scenes was a small indie-rock band called The Lovesong. The band unfortunately is no longer active and band members have moved onto other stellar HK bands such as:

The Merriweather Deer
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Merriweather-deer/136189309729277?fref=ts

and more recently:

Oh! Nullah
www.facebook.com/ohnullah

In my humble opinion, as great as both these bands are they still pale in comparison to what The Lovesong stood for and achieved with their completely unique and unpredictable sound, and their DIY aesthetic. (Though I have to say, the song Keep it to a Minimal by The Merriweather Deer is my all time favorite song ever written by a Hong Kong band…beautiful beautiful song!!!)I remember often seeing the band members sitting at their merch table cutting, folding and stamping their CD sleeves. As you will be able to hear with the full discography that is available down below for your listening pleasure…each song is a unique blend of 90’s indie-rock/emo with a spoken word type of vocal delivery all of which has a massively updated sound incorporating each member’s current taste in music. The result is a collection of some of the most magical and exciting music produced here in Hong Kong…the only way to better experience these tracks is in the LIVE setting – flailing guitars, heart pounding drums, bass lines that you will hum for days, vocals delivered by one of the shyest musicians on the planet hahahahaha..which makes him even more endearing…the entire experience is a cathartic spectacle to be a part of.

Though the band is no more…their music certainly lives on and in the process has managed to find a new crop of fans who are only NOW learning about this band…by premiering this here on the site we hope that the world outside of Hong Kong can also hear and feel the magic.

Enjoy the tracks below and do us a favor and spread the word…

The Lovesong

UniteAsia.org is an underground Asian music news website created for the sole purpose of supporting our own world. We support all bands and genres HOWEVER we do not support nor have any sympathy for homophobic, racist, sexist rhetoric in lyrical content or band material. UNITE ASIA!
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