Music Monday: Goosander

Happy Monday! It’s good to be back.

For a brief time this summer, I was in Taipei trying to fulfill my role as a music blogger, by doing some digging on the scene. What surprised me were a few bands that liked to combine Taiwanese singing with a post-rock sound.

《川秋沙》Goosander was formed in 2009. Initially the members developed their music by first writing their lyrics in Taiwanese, like poems, but over time developed a singular Taiwanese sound that has won them fans nationally and abroad. This is an intimate performance of their song 《風尾》Fong Wei, recorded in the Eslite Taipei music store. (It is the fourth song off their ‘12 album 《人造沙洲》Artificial Shoal，released by White Wabbit Records.)

The song has quite a standout melody, and the Taiwanese lyrics are easier to understand for someone with just a slight understanding of the dialect. Vocalist Yvonne Ong said that she wrote the song after observing her parent’s marriage, and the differences between the past and present ways of life. The lyrics hint at the joy, sorrow and resentment that come with many years together, captured in one moment on a mountain. The wind carries the flowers along, singing, as the couple swallow their true feelings.

I hope you enjoy the new sound of this band.

Have a great week!