From Folk to Techno: The Many Facets of Chengdu Musician Wu Zhuoling
For over a decade Wu Zhuoling has been making music as a solo artist. The progression of her work on albums like How to Dispel the Distance (2009) and My Dearest Sea (2015) has taken on many forms, covering styles ranging from folk and indie-electronic to the more experimental techno she is now producing.
At the heart of her work, however, is a calming warmth which seems consistent regardless of genre. We chatted with the Chengdu artist about her music, backstory, and tour preceding her upcoming performance at Beijing’s Fruityspace on Apr 25 and DDC on Saturday, Apr 27, starting at 3pm.
Do you feel it is important to alter your style over time or do you put more emphasis on a theme when writing?
The change in my sound is not intentional but has acted more like the tool to evolve my music. When writing, I always have an image or scene in mind. I then choose a suitable method to make an aspect of the sound come to life. This builds a scene which represents my intended emotions and ideas.
Sometimes I also focus on a certain theme or style. This is especially true when doing remixes. I feel that it is more fun to transform the original style into something new and different. Since last year I have been playing live music with the use of hardware electronics and have continued that practice on this tour. My next goal is to record and produce the new material from my live sets and hopefully release a new album later this year. There will be some ambient textures produced by modular synths, minimal techno tracks, and even a few songs with vocals and acoustic instruments.
More recently you have also been working as a producer for other artists like Kafe.Hu and Shii. Does producing other artists affect your creative process?
Yes, I have learned a lot about their way of making music and thoughts on the industry. The mixing procedure itself has also improved my producing skills.
You are currently on a China-wide tour with an impressive array of dates ranging from Dali to Shanghai and a whole slew of other cities in between. How has it been so far?
The first three stops on this tour have been quite relaxing and casual. I rented a car with my family and did a lot of sight-seeing around Yunnan and Xichang. It was great to get out of the city because I was able to enjoy nature and local culture while playing shows along the way.
Despite being from Chengdu, you are no stranger to Beijing. How do you feel when coming back?
I have not come back to Beijing for a few years now. The city changes quite quickly, so every time I go there I feel like a newcomer in a familiar place. It takes a while for me to recall the layout of the city, but every so often I am reminded of old memories when I stumble back upon places from my past. I like visiting friends who still live there, but for me, the city just is not what it used to be. I enjoy coming back, but never intend to stay for too long.
What should we expect to see at your Fruityspace show on Apr 25?
Firstly I would like to thank thruoutin for arranging the event. We met last October in Chengdu because we were both performing at Nu Art Festival. I was very impressed by his live set and it is a huge pleasure to be able to play with him and some other excellent artists at Fruityspace. I have never been to this venue before, but I heard it is a cozy and cool spot. In the end, I'm looking forward to playing there. As far as my performance is concerned, I plan to first do a small modular set of ambient music and then later play a few minimal-techno pieces that I recently created.
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Get tickets for Seippelabel Showcase: Wu Zhuoling at Fruityspace. Tickets cost RMB 60 advance or RMB 70 on the door. The show features support from thruoutin, Solent&Hadi, and Sosoloid. If you miss that, she'll also have an afternoon performance at DDC on Saturday, Apr 27 alongside Demone, starting at 3pm.
Photos courtesy of the organizer, Elie
