It’s the sound of something bubbling in Toronto’s underground electronic scene: Cindy Li, aka Ciel, a composer trained in classical piano, is launching her first album on the label she launched shortly before the start of the pandemic. A rather eclectic set, but to be classified in the tech-house section, not very far from the old classics of LFO, the timbres of synths and electronic percussion evoking the 1990s. Ciel sometimes approaches breakbeat (Breatheand more hovering over Silk in the final), the more classic techno dub (Wood), but where she stands out is by seeking to inject into her productions a little of the musical culture of her Chinese roots: the castanet called kuaiban there, the impressive zither called guzheng (on Silk), the traditional xiao flute on bamboo in opening. These sonic ingredients are used sparingly, but enrich the musical vocabulary of the composer who offers here a promising calling card and at home on a dance floor.
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