Sonic Talismans

Born of a 14-year collaborative partnership between Chinese avant-garde musicians Liang YiYuan and Li Daiguo, Sonic Talismans is the first album by the duo to receive an international release. Recorded in Dali, Yunnan province, over the course of 2021, each piece is an improvisation that combines traditional Chinese textures with the aesthetic approach of Western free improvisation. Between the two musicians, we hear a palette of yangqin dulcimer, pipa lute, guzheng zither, bawu free-reeded flute, as well as double bass and piano. While the track titles hint towards a therapeutic intent – ‘remedy for constant fatigue and sleeping disorders caused by overwork and disconnection from fundamental essence of life’; ‘depression be gone’ – the results are hardly fluffy new age. This texturally diverse and uncompromising album feels more akin to a purging ritual than a guided meditation – a healing ceremony for the world’s ills, replete with both humour and catharsis.