by Ljubinko Zivkovic (@zivljub)
If release titles are the sole thing by an artist to go by, then London-via-Hong Kong’s Mui Zyu has something substantial to say. Her first EP from 2021 was titled A Wonderful Thing Vomits, her debut album bore the title of Rotten Bun For An Eggless Century, and her latest goes by Nothing Or Something To Die For. Yet are such intriguing titles good enough to go deeper into Mui Zyu's music? Judging by the twelve tracks of her latest release, certainly so.
From the early start, Mui Zyu aka Eva Liu showed that she has an excellent knack for combining electronic instrumentation with some soft, velvety vocals which bring along lyrics that actually have something intriguing to say. She further strengthens the ties that bind these elements here, without overburdening her music, just throwing enough extra touches as a form of aural glue. Those touches here include elements of her Chinese heritage with sparse but audible use of traditional Chinese instruments, guzheng and erhu.
It all works as a musical/lyrical exploration of the shadows, always with something light and fluffy in there, but at the same time, something dark and ominous. The transition from light to darkness and back seems quite effortless, as if Liu is recreating real life situations into music that has different and unusual shapes and forms, as if she was transforming her declared love of film scores and video games into real life situations. Taken as a whole the album creates a specific reality of its own, giving us an inside, detailed look into a mind of an artist that is yet going to surprise us.