News: Hu Yan Bin's new album taps new creativity

It is rare for me to find news about Anson in the English world, but here it is:

News coming from:
Global Times | September 27, 2011 08:57
Author: Song Yuanyuan


Chinese pop star, Hu Yanbin, has released his latest studio album titled Hu Cares. The play on words aims to convey the singer's sentiment that he "cares about the quality and content of every piece of music, rather than being market-orientated." On October 22, the Shanghai singer/songwriter also known by his English name, Anson Hu, will perform new songs along with some classics at his "Laohu Jiao" concert at the Beijing Exhibition Center.


Hu's song writing duties include both lyrics and music composition.

The 28-year-old is adept at many musical instruments, including piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, and guzheng (a plucked Chinese zither.)

He released his self-titled debut album aged 18. At 22, he won the Best Male Singer gong at the Shanghai Music Awards for his follow-up album, Music Code.

However, the next two years saw the singer take a performing (but not song writing) hiatus in favor of studying film and music in New York. Nevertheless, he churned out another four albums.

His seventh and latest album, Hu Cares, features lyrics written by Ning Caishen for three songs on the album ("One Night in Shanghai," "Hong Men Yan" and "10,000 Light Years.")

At a press conference announcing the release of his album, Hu shared his life story with reporters, including his days studying in the US. He explained how experiences were reflected in songs on the album.

The first song, "Life," has heavy rap influences and captures his feelings upon first arriving in New York's urban jungle. The album also marks Hu's foray into music video direction, with the singer at the helm for clips of several songs. Hu described his directorial debut as "a very exciting experience."

"The days I spent in New York and the knowledge I learned did not change my music, but it did change the way I think," the singer said.

Cooperation with American musicians also allowed him to be inspired by their perfection-seeking attitude toward creating music.

"Even when recording guitar tracks, they would give me lots of different sound effects to choose from. Their willingness to pursue perfection coupled with the free, relaxed state of mind helped me find inspiration," he said.





Source: http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/ID/677212/Hu-Yanbins-new-album-taps-new-creativity.aspx

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