Chinese Music Blog

I’m back and this time I am going to review a “standard” Canto-pop album for you: the latest release by Siufay (小肥), “Festival Traveller”. Before we dive into the album itself though, let’s spend a minute or two getting to know the artist himself.

Siufay was originally part of the Macanese group (boy band) C-Plus and in 2007 he went to Hong Kong and started his solo career. The effort paid off and Siufay got a bronze award at the Jade Solid Gold 2007 ceremony in the “New Male” category. Arguably the best vocalist of the 2007 class, Siufay then went on to release his first album and recorded 逼得寵物太緊 with Kary Ng (吳雨霏).

Fast forward two years and Siufay eventually got round to releasing his second album, Festival Traveller. Was the wait worth it? The short answer is yes, the longer answer is… well, maybe. Carry on reading.

The album is a mixed bag of killer tracks (two or three) and run-of-the-mill Canto-pop which is adequate as background music or maybe for karaoke, but not too exciting on its own. What stands out regardless is Siufay’s excellent vocal delivery, with a wide range and reminiscent of Eason Chan (陳奕迅) and Leo Ku (古巨基) at times.

Should you buy this album? I think so, if anything to allow Siufay to carry on and release a third album, possibly stronger than Festival Traveller. After all, the artist is still a newcomer in spite of his 33 years of age.

Time to look at each track in detail:

不平安夜 – Lovely arrangement and great showcase of Siufay’s singing prowess. The production on this track is of high quality and in another category altogether to the rest of the album and, indeed, most of what’s coming out of Hong Kong in recent years (except maybe for “Shirley’s Era” by Shirley Kwan, 關淑怡 – more on that on another article maybe ;-) ). This is the song you should be buying this album for.

十二年沒有冬天 – This is the song that brought me to listening to this album after hearing it on the radio/net and watching the MV on Youtube. It’s a ballad in the style of Eason Chan with a beautiful chorus and excellent vocals, second best song in the album after Track 1.

兒童節謀殺案 – We start going downhill from here. Good R&B song but not as good as the first two tracks. Reminiscent of Pong Nan (藍奕邦)’s album “Born Unhappy”.

六月十三 – Standard Canto-pop song, similar in style to “十二年沒有冬天 “. It could become a karaoke favourite and you can imagine it sung by Leo Ku. You won’t be disappointed if you are a fan of the latter.

七月十四 – Lovely intro, reminiscent of Dido’s “White Flag”. Older-style pop song with a “classical” style delivery which suits the Er Hu and other strings present in the arrangement of this song. A little gem of a smaller order compared to the beginning of the album, but a worth noting nonetheless.

紅葉 – Another slow song, sort of ordinary. Might be suitable for a winter single release. The vocals are good but the melody line is rather uninteresting. Skip.

國慶日 – A much needed fast song after the past three. Rock/borderline punk arrangement which reminds me of Eason’s “最後的嬉皮士” from the “What’s going on” album. Pleasantly different from the rest.

寵物的畢業禮 – Another standard canto-pop ballad, similar in style to 紅 葉. Nice chorus and nice orchestration, not particularly exciting altogether.

The album then closes with two “buffer” songs, i.e. Mandarin version of previously released tracks, which are not worth reviewing. Again, the singing is particularly good, especially on the last track (黃金歲月).

As you can see, I’m in two minds about this release. On one side you have three of four good tracks and excellent vocals throughout, on the other hand you have four or so boring tracks and a couple of “buffer” songs, which makes me think not enough money was invested in the project.

Ultimately, I choose to support Siufay in spite of the somewhat “standard” quality of this album, because it would really be a great shame to lose such a good vocalist after just two albums, and hope you concur after listening to the album yourselves.

That’s it from me for now, hope you enjoyed the review and see you again soon!

All the best from London,

O.R.