Love. Youth. You say: Yeah, OK, whatever. But know this: beyond that, there is something real happening here. Something more than just hormones and "impure" thoughts." There is a true vibe beneath the smooth, sugar-coated shell of these songs, a vibe that cuts to the deepest of all human joys and insecurities.
Love's like a gust of wind…it has no shadow, it leaves no mark
It makes me smile, it makes me sad, it make me sigh
with blame in my heart
2. "AI-CHING." The (Likely) Motivation Behind a Record.
Or…let's put it this way. There's always the latest young, hip singer. Sees all the cool films, reads all the cool books, and writes all the "clever" lyrics. Yeah, this is it, say hipster fans. This is our story.
(Please.)
This is just a guess on my part, but I think with AI-CHING, Jerry Li wanted to make something more than empty BS. To me, this is his take on music: we make it to make ourselves feel. A good love song should throw you into ecstasy – or despair. No need to name-check Roland Barthes, or the latest cookie-cutter film or book that "defines a generation." No need for fancy platitudes for people to regurgitate as slogans. A good love song is about that hard-to-define true vibe, where scenes and images – not words – drive the story.
Action, motion…emotion. That's Jerry Li's game, to serve it up straight. No twisted metaphors to dig through. No obscure lyrics murmured in half-embarrassment.
The jaded will probably say we don't need another record about love. Whatever…Jerry Li ain't listening. He's just doing what Bruce Lee tells us: "Don't Think, Feeeeel!"
