“Her Words” is a 3-song-long EP produced by Hastings Su, mixed and mastered by LuLu@Cashmere Studio.
Yet one may drift around, he always finds his life meaning the place he starts from. One bed, one gesture, even one glance can lead to a “Eureka” moment. This is the darker side of intimacy, of romance. “What I miss most is what my dream missed”, “Monaco” faces the beauty of imperfection or deficiency; “Pretended serious topics here and there they fly/ Pretended angry tone behind which your tricks hide”, “Don’t Touch Me” reflects the tricky behaviors between lovers; “I liked it most when I wear your handmade sweater/ Using questions as your every question’s answer”, “Yarns” depicts the struggle to reach anything solid in a messy relationship. Songs conveys my hardship, they are also my cures.
Don’t Touch Me - 2024
Composer, Arranger, Producer, Guitarist, Vocal
Bickers —— they are probably one of the most inevitable choirs in a relationship. Mine with my girlfriend is a little strange. Whenever I try to use caress to solve the problems, my girlfriend always says: “Don’t touch me!” This isn’t a real reproach, this is pretended. In a relationship somehow we tend to pretend to be sensitive in order to claim more from our lovers. Strange and childish such behaviors may be, they are cute and interesting. And sometimes what we need to do to preserve love is just telling some “fictions” or “treat love as hide-and-seek”. We need to become kids.
Lyrics:
o Verse A1
有什麽在阻擋你的向心力
敏感靈魂要搭配絕緣外皮
嗔怒表情構不成有力還擊
翻來覆去像是一個loop有點膩
Obstruction is blocking your centripetal force
Sentimental soul wears a romance-proof mask forged
Pretended anger won’t be an effective assault
Repetition of these only leads to a boring result
彼此之間少了點特色話題
無聊時也願意聽新鮮呼吸
也許講些fiction能找些甜蜜
也許可以偶爾把愛當遊戲
Conversation between us becomes less attracting
Like to breath some fresh air while boring
Perhaps telling some fictions could make it sweet
Perhaps it’s fine to treat love as hide-and-seek
o Chorus
假正經的話題反復提起
假生氣的語氣暗藏心機
秘密
一支瞄準要害的武器
操縱世間情緣一場戲
Pretended serious topics here and there they fly
Pretended angry tone behind which your tricks hide
Secrets
A weapon pointing at the most vulnerable parts
Manipulating all world’s love like drama art
不成熟的表白驅走陰霾
不穩重的依賴喚醒期待
猜
一種印象主義的色彩
摹畫不出有答案的愛
Immature confession dissipates the hazy prospect
Insecure reliance arouses what we expect
Guess
A sort if impressionistic color
Cannot depict love with an answer
o Verse A2 o Verse B
彼此之間少了點特色話題
無聊時也願意聽新鮮呼吸
也許講些fiction能找些甜蜜
也許可以
Conversation between us becomes less attracting
Like to breath some fresh air while boring
Perhaps telling some fictions could make it sweet
Perhaps…
是否該把常理都拋棄
我想該放任這無解題
其實我們都不曾懷疑
也掩不住深愛彼此的心跡
Should I abandon all the common sense
The question about love — I’ve got to leave it blank
Yet in fact we’ve never suspected
Nor succeeded to hide the fact that we’re all addicted
o Chorus
假正經的話題反復提起
假生氣的語氣暗藏心機
秘密
一支瞄準要害的武器
操縱世間情緣一場戲
Pretended serious topics here and there they fly
Pretended angry tone behind which your tricks hide
Secrets
A weapon pointing at the most vulnerable parts
Manipulating all world’s love like drama art
不成熟的表白驅走陰霾
不穩重的依賴喚醒期待
猜...
固執得像小孩
只好構想 只好構想
卻永遠學不會去愛
Immature confession dissipates the hazy prospect
Insecure reliance arouses what we expect
Guess
Stubborn like a kid
Could only conceive
But never understand how to love
The song starts with a sample of bicker. I am satisfied with the design of the synth crescendo in the intro. The main verse A goes in Dm7-G7-Cm7-A7, and that is referred in the lyric as “loop”. I want to present something like modal jazz, something cool and acid. So I choose square waves as the foundations of the bass’s and keys’ timbre. In the entire song the keys is comping far away, they are constantly hitting those color tones like 9th and 13th. And it may sound like being in another key, that is exactly the effect I want.
I am favored with the progression of consecutive major chords because it sounds narrative. In this song the chorus part uses FM7-BbM7-CM7-EbM7 at first, and it sounds like telling a story calmly and openly. The ending note of chorus is F, and I use F#M7 as the chord there, it sounds odd and thought-provoking.
You may be curious about the Verse A2 part. I want the slight layback of lead vocal and rearrange the drumbeats to make them before the vocal. The beats of it basically fits into a groove pattern of two dotted semiquaver notes and one semiquaver note. And the laid back vocal fits into a serial of dotted semiquaver notes.
Yarn - 2024
Composer, Arranger, Producer, Guitarist, Vocal
The song narrates my experiences of hardships in a relationship. For me and my girlfriend, when we come across disagreements, we usually choose to beat around the bush and avoid facing them directly. We are all unable to totally understand other’s thoughts and we tend to be cautious about comforting our lovers. We all praise independent personality and the capability to solve mental problems by oneself; but in a relationship, it is called “sidestepping”. Communication is the cure.
Here “yarn” is a metaphor for a relationship with no communication. Two lovers still love each other but they have sidestepped so many questions that they seem to transform into a ball of yarn. In my experience, there is still something beyond solving problems or destroying the ball of yarn: the steadfast love. When we hesitate to expose our weaknesses, we can just leave those questions for a while, and we believe they will be solved eventually.
Lyrics:
o Verse A1
沈浮於腦海中的解決方案
長針將它們胡亂串了一串
麻煩與齟齬變成一扇隔板
捧著些毛球你我各在一端
Solutions in mind unable to handle
Strung carelessly with a knitting needle
Between us so much trouble and discord lies
Holding a ball of yarn we stand on each side
織出的平衡經不起打算
擁抱的快感我們望眼欲穿
毛線的混亂世事的輪盤
轉到哪都指向愛的燭盞
Knitted balance can’t withstand any contemplation
The pleasure of hug is already beyond our aspiration
Chaos of yarn; Wheel of fortune
Lead to love no matter how it turns
沈浮於腦海中的解決方案
長針將它們胡亂串了一串
麻煩與齟齬變成一扇隔板
捧著些毛球你我各在一端
Solutions in mind unable to handle
Strung carelessly with a knitting needle
Between us so much trouble and discord lies
Holding a ball of yarn we stand on each side
織出的平衡經不起打算
擁抱的快感我們望眼欲穿
毛線的混亂世事的輪盤
轉到哪都指向愛的燭盞
Knitted balance can’t withstand any contemplation
The pleasure of hug is already beyond our aspiration
Chaos of yarn; Wheel of fortune
Lead to love no matter how it turns
o Chorus
我最喜歡穿上你織的毛衣
用問題回答你的一切問題
詞語實際不存在任何聯系
你的眼眸便足以讓我沈迷
I liked it most when I wear your handmade sweater
Using questions as your every question’s answer
Thinking of each word there ain’t no connection
Your eyes are enough to wake my obsession
你的表情控訴著愛的缺席
卻發現它已充盈每個縫隙
虛張聲勢說需要找個輪替
口若懸河之際
仍對我半個字不離
Your expression is accusing of the absence of love
Yet you find love has already filled the air above
Always bluffing to substitute me for another guy
As you talking
You never forget to mention me anytime
o Verse A2
望向你眼神裏的光
疑心是陌生的模樣
它卻始終抓住我緊緊不放
開始擔心怎麽收場
Staring at the light in your eyes
Worrying if they would depict another guy
Yet they keep seizing me tightly
The atmosphere turns romantic slightly
The song starts with a sample of typewriter and my speaking to imply that I am recording and declaring some thoughts. The intro of the song simply follows one pattern on root notes descending: one minor third and three minor seconds. After three turns (the last interval is a major second), the root note becomes C and then verse A begins. I use this progression as the basic structure because I love the feel of Cm-Am in the first place. The reason is similar with that of why I love major chords progression: it is narrative, but in a sorrowful way. Then I think of some tweaks or transitions, I try to move the minor chord one minor second downwards but the melody upwards. Ups and downs give music vitality, and here they create some kind of twisted and spacious feeling.
I like the way I compose Verse A2 because I write a completely different melody on the similar progression. The first four chords remain the same, and the next four chords become IIIm7-VI7-IIm7-V7 in Bb natural major.
I am satisfied with the timbres of bass and keys in this song. The bass is based on multi-unison wave and it sounds thick and wide enough. The attack of it has a lovable and dreamy power. The noises and humanization of keys are carefully designed, they brings the flavor of solitude to this song.
Monaco - 2024
Composer, Arranger, Producer, Guitarist, Bassist, Vocal
When I recall my trip along the southern coast of France, I can always memorize a vision of Monaco. As merely a passenger on a highway, all I could do was shedding a glimpse on that pearl-like city. Just like the lyrics say: “Like an earring littered when the gods bicker/ Oh they would also all day surround their lovers”. In my memories Monaco is so mystery and romantic, just as the unforgettable mark in anyone’s memories: dazzling yet far, permanent for mind yet transient for eyes. And perhaps we shall never try to learn it more. The more you learn, the more disappointed you will be.
This is kind of the law in a relationship actually. Leaving a space for each other is one of the best ways to preserve love. People will have dreams for their lovers; the chorus’s lyric “what my dream missed” refers to something beyond imagination —— This is what we are constantly searching in a lover, what we “miss most”, and what’s least likely to fail us.
Lyrics:
o Verse A1
憑空半掩素面的憂郁港灣
存在於太陽對永夜的隔斷
神明賭氣時隨手拋下耳環
他們也整天圍著愛人打轉
Out of nowhere, the blue blue bay stays quiet
Where the sun infiltrates the forever night
Like an earring littered when the gods bicker
Oh they would also all day surround their lovers
五彩的油畫足以讓人目眩
為什麽越是靠近情迷越散
看啊看啊看 遠天的帆
轉啊轉啊轉 向著下一座山
Such a colorful paint is enough to make me dazzle
Shorter distance dissipates my obsession, what a puzzle
Then just overlook; there, there, there, the sails on the ocean
Just drive the wheels; round, round, round, to the next mountain
o Chorus 1
Bring me to the voyage
A fantasized voyage
等到藍色將你眼眸染濕
成幽幽的深摯
才發現愛不過是闌珊意致
時間早已停止
Bring me to the voyage
A fantasized voyage
Waiting until the blue gets your eyes wet
And weaves a mystery depth
Then we’ll find love only a flagging interest
‘Cause the paused time has already brought the best
Bring me to the voyage
An inexistent voyage
用盡全力譜寫濫情的詩
不如省略修辭
浪漫加一些固執
藏身於不曾存在的故事
最難忘是夢境的缺失
Bring me to the voyage
An inexistent voyage
Exhausted to be sentimentally poetic
Why not just forget about those rhetorics
Little romance, plus a bit of cute stubbornness
Hides only behind the tale having no existence
What I miss most is what my dream missed
o Verse C o Verse B
天空降下一點姍姍來遲的雨
仍不知其名的城鎮翻起透明的橘
子色的空氣訴說著童話未完待續
怎麽舍得接受無趣結局
Here the sky drips its late coming rain
The still unnamed town resembles a transparent tangerine
Orange air is telling a fairy tale to be continued
Why not enjoy the incompletion when we could?
五彩的油畫足以讓人目眩
為什麽越是靠近情迷越散
看啊看啊看 遠天的帆
轉啊轉啊轉 向著下一座山
Such a colorful paint is enough to make me dazzle
Shorter distance dissipates my obsession, what a puzzle
Then just overlook; there, there, there, the sails on the ocean
Just drive the wheels; round, round, round, to the next mountain
o Chorus
Bring me to the voyage
A fantasized voyage
等到藍色將你眼眸染濕
成幽幽的深摯
才發現愛不過是闌珊意致
時間早已停止
Bring me to the voyage
A fantasized voyage
Waiting until the blue gets your eyes wet
And weaves a mystery depth
Then we’ll find love only a flagging interest
‘Cause the paused time has already brought the best
Bring me to the voyage
An inexistent voyage
用盡全力譜寫濫情的詩
不如省略修辭
浪漫加一些固執
藏身於不曾存在的故事
最難忘是夢境的
輾轉難眠攪動著
虛無賦予現實的溫熱
Bring me to the voyage
An inexistent voyage
Exhausted to be sentimentally poetic
Why not just forget about those rhetorics
Little romance, plus a bit of cute stubbornness
Hides only behind the tale having no existence
What I miss most is…
What causes my insomnia is…
The real warmness from nothingness
The song uses Bossa-nova feels and grooves as the foundation. From the aspect of composing, the bald use of backbeat in the chorus can be seen as rebellious and innovative and. It is kind of personal. Backbeat doesn’t only occur in the middle three notes on the comping instrument like traditional bossa, it can occur at anytime and anywhere. The arrangements of instrumentation are dividing the quarter notes and coupling with each other on a stable comping line. Different instrument can shine in a different way and the song remains a Bossa feel. It is like using different seasons to cook a steak. Drums and guitars are the steak itself; bass is the salt; piano is the butter; strings, winds and synths are all those herbs.
I am most satisfied with the interesting chords on English lyrics in the beginning of choruses. While composing, they are required to be as sudden as the feel of driving out of a tunnel; as instructive as pre-choruses in EDM. Finally, a group of chords are chosen: Cm7-Bm7-Bbm7; Cm7-Dm7-B/Eb. They are solid with the hit on piano and guitar, and smooth with the progression on bass. They serve well for a simple melody, and have a bit of transposing feel in the last.