Album embraces modern sound

Musician Xiao Jun, who composes, plays guitar and piano, released his latest album, Atypical Airship, with a nationwide tour which kicked off in Shanghai on April 30 and concluded in Beijing on Saturday.

On the last two shows of the tour, which took place at the Beijing Blue Note on Friday and Saturday, he performed with his band, including the drummer An Yu.

The new album, a long project of Xiao, started about four years ago. Atypical Airship features music dominated by instruments and a broader sense of modern sound.

Released by Blue Note Records, one of the labels of Universal Music Group's China division, Atypical Airship, featuring 10 original works by Xiao, blurs genre lines, especially blending jazz with rock, and breaks limitations of his musical identity.

"I had more time focusing on creating new music materials during the past few years and I had lots of ideas, which I wanted to present to the audience. I call the album 'airship' because I imagined that all my music ideas could be gathered together and stored in an airship. Because all my music ideas are very personal, abstract and surreal, I call them 'atypical'," says Xiao, who lives in Shanghai.

Two of the music works from Atypical Airship feature two singers: Hua Dong, leading vocalist of Chinese band Re-TROS (Rebuilding the Rights of Statues) performing in Drown Into Deep Down and singer-songwriter Dou Jingtong performing in Somberton.

"I like their voices very much. The chemistry of their voices and my music is very interesting," says Xiao. "It happened naturally."

The music work, Ain't No Sunshine Moon No Cry, from the new album, features US jazz pianist Aaron Parks, who contributed a solo session.

Xiao rose to fame in 2019 after appearing in the popular reality show, The Big Band, as the guitarist of a participating band, Mandarin. The drummer An Yu is a member of the band, who also formed a conceptual duo with Xiao, known as INNOUT.

"I don't see myself only as a guitarist. Guitar is used in my music only when it is needed. I am expanding my music vision and hopefully people could see more from my music creation and performances," says Xiao.