[Interview] Hong Kong duo per se cruel stories of fairy tales

In this digital age, there are still musicians who insist on publishing one disc by one. The Hong Kong duo per se is one of them. A prelude, in the format of a full album, it is rare to buy and rarely buy, "From the beginning to the end, I want to give music fans a journey." This journey opens up a world of fairy tales, but after listening carefully, these fairy tales may not be naive and interesting. To, more like chapters and chapters of cruel stories.

Hard to replace physical disc

Stephen Mok and Sandy Ip of per se laughed and said that they are still people who can buy physical discs, and they also aim to publish albums, but they are still releasing their singles one after another through the Internet. However, they have accumulated enough singles with some music units. The practice of regrouping and releasing the album is different. They start from the concept and theme, and release the single in a planned way, which is implicated in each other and has a beginning and an end. "There is something special about listening in order." Stephen continued, they deliberately designed a "flawless" connection between songs. This is a surprise if you listen to it, and encourage music fans to even use streaming platforms. Appreciate it and play it in sequence, but in the end, "physical discs always have an irreplaceable quality."

"character/character" is per se's fifth studio album. The creative plan started in 2020 and lasted for two years. When encountering events such as the epidemic, the creator has more reflections, "This album is more personal and more I have a lot of my own experience and let it out through the mouth of the fairy tale characters. This is something that was not created before, so the production time is very long and it is more devoted." The disc is based on "fairy tales". But not nursery rhymes, electronic music, rock and roll, etc., and the lyrics are not about childishness, but to face human nature, "Chinese "fairy tale" has the word "child", English is "Fairy Tale", not necessarily It is written for children, but it gradually develops to have educational significance." Times are bad and fairy tales are cruel, "It seems simple, as long as you read it carefully, you will find many levels and many things can be discovered."

In the fairy tale world, it's not always the prince and the princess holding hands and having a happy ending. Rather than arousing everyone's innocence through their works, it is better to say that they want to explore human nature. "In the real world, people are three-dimensional and show different personalities at different times, good people and bad people. Probably the same person."

What to do when you see a witch?

"Infinity" is the first work in this series. At that time, the two were inspired by news such as melting glaciers and bushfires in Australia, so they tried to link up with "The Story of a Fisherman and a Goldfish" to promote the creation. "The Story of the Fisherman and the Goldfish" tells the story of a fisherman who catches a talking goldfish, and the goldfish begs him for mercy, saying that as long as he is released, his wish will be fulfilled. However, when the fisherman's wife is not satisfied, he takes the goldfish back. They are released again, they are released and they are captured again, and they are asked one by one. The endless pursuit is greed, and the fisherman finally returns to a poor life. Per se uses "Infinity" to express the relationship between man and nature, as well as the greed of human beings. After creating "Infinity", they became more confident and decided to develop this fairy tale music series.

Interestingly, most of the fairy tales that the two chose this time are unpopular, and may not be familiar to Hong Kong people. "I don't want everyone to be preconceived." "Rapunzel", which is based on "The Tower", has a scene where the prince can't save the princess and is blinded. "This song is about the prince's feelings of wanting to take a risk and rescue afterward."

In the past, per se liked to explore difficult topics in an easy-to-follow pop style. The new disc is just the opposite. The songs correspond to seemingly simple fairy tales. Instead, in music creation such as arrangement, adding things that need to be digested is not possible for everyone. Thinking of the folk music style corresponding to fairy tales, "The stories described in the lyrics have a direct meaning, and both adults and children can understand them. We want to put more effort into the music. If you listen to it many times, you can understand it, but as a A relaxing song is also fine." For example, "Pure Baby" and so on, they added electronic music, Stephen joked that it was a new attempt, they even avoided electronic music before until "Pure Baby", they felt that electronic music was similar to this song. It's a good match, why don't you give it a try. "Pure Child is also about being yourself!" Serrini's Featured "Smash Candy House" may be the most fairy tale song on the entire disc in terms of tone, but the lyrics are not easy. , talking about how to survive the difficulties, "What should I do if I see a witch?"

a distant kingdom

Per se was formed in 2012, and it has been in the army for almost ten years. Looking back now, Stephen laughed and said that the theme of writing songs in the past was too difficult, and some fans were discouraged. It seems that the inspiration came from "How to be Alive" of "Death Note". Surviving and living are two different things, so it seems that not many fans are willing to digest it. "In addition to the English song, maybe half of the people don't listen to it." Stephen smiled wryly, and said that he now knows how to handle and balance. However, in the final analysis, per se does not intend to provide "instant-eating" music. He hopes that his works will last forever. No matter the lyrics or the concept, they do not pursue the timeliness. Sandy said that his purpose has always been "Make Something Unique", injecting a unique sound into the work. "Every time I hear people say this song is very 'per se', I am very happy."

per se held a concert "Kingdom Far Away" in December, and performed works including songs from "character/character", etc. As the name suggests, it invites music fans to imagine a distant kingdom, "The audience is given a card, on the card It shows different characters with different backgrounds and occupations. It seems that some of them leave a familiar place and start over. The audience will go to the show with this character." After listening to the song, I wish Utopia is not far away, let alone a fairy tale.

(Original published in the supplement of Hong Kong's "Sing Tao Daily" on November 26, 2021)