Stay, Nomad by Rev

Planet Mu welcomes new signing Rev also known as 26 year old Raymond Hu from Chongqing in South West China, a city best known musically for its thriving rap scene. This scene initially inspired Raymond to produce music, but unable to find a satisfactory vocalist/songwriter to 'complete' his sound, he started to build his own by cutting up, reordering and editing mostly feminine pop vocals instead of working with a rapper. It's a process with an element of chance, a proxy that balances the familiar and the uncanny.

In turn, these characteristics carry across to Rev's artist name too. He says "Among my friends I’m often called “Lai Fu (来福),” which is the direct phonetic rendering of “Rev” into Mandarin, and in Chinese it literally means “Get Lucky.” But also, Rev is short for “Reverse", 'playing something backwards," an editing technique he uses, where the sound of the familiar and uncanny mix.

Rev's six track Planet Mu debut 'Stay, Nomad' is sparse and deeply felt, composed with a graceful sense of weightlessness and space. Rhythms crack and bounce around melody, effects and reverb which suck air in and out of the sound design, while vocals thread through this mix like eerie holograms.

Opener 'Mind Game' which was on the Planet Mu 30 compilation and also appears here with a mind-bending remix from Chewlie, starts with a naked piano, opening up into something that glows with disembodied vocals yearning over dub-like phrases, that lift and dissipate like fireworks. In contrast, first single 'Stutter' builds up slithers of choir-like and chipmunked vocals into strange shapes over fuzzy piano, until saw-like drums cut in half way through giving the serene mood a fearful, nervous edge. We hope you enjoy this new EP as much as we do.

the sound of the familiar and uncanny mix

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