Tang Hui Jun is no stranger to the local music scene. The versatile multi-instrumentalist and songwriter has been a member of prominent bands such as math rock faves cues, as well as indie darlings Cosmic Child. But most recently, Hui Jun has decided to strike out on her own with her solo project elo elo.
“Indebted equally with Japanese shibuya-kei experimentalists and searing indie rock,” as described by her label Kolibri Rekords, elo elo’s music shimmers with effervescent reveries. That lush and playful alt-pop sound is what makes her recently released EP, entitled I Can’t Find My Head, such a beautiful listen.
We caught up with Hui Jun to learn more about her exquisite debut.
‘Salmon Skies’
"‘Salmon Skies’ is sorta named after my pink Stratocaster, which I got a few years back – for no reason other than the fact that I like pink instruments, and it was going at a competitive price point. It’s the first song I wrote on the electric guitar.
I was also extremely obsessed (and still am) with The Sweet Enoughs’ Marshmallow. I started off writing ‘Salmon Skies’ bearing in mind some of the things I loved about the track, ‘Cabin Days’ – the arrangement is so simple, it’s just a cascade of chords played on the guitar that melt into each other. I was certainly quite drawn to the idea of this long flowy chord progression…
But more importantly, I love how the songs in that album feel - they feel exactly like the album art. You can say this song is an indirect outcome of a period where I was listening to the album a lot! "
‘I Can't Find My Head’
"This one was so weird because it took forever to finish writing, and yet the individual sections in and of themselves were written rapidly. It took forever because I found myself massively stuck in between the completion of each section. There’s been countless times where I’ve revisited it only to leave empty handed.
In trying to complete the song, I was somewhat forced to think of different ways to utilise the tools available to me (vocals, keyboards/synths, sampling, bass). I guess this song is the outcome of the culmination of that experimentation process which funnily enough, mirrored how I was feeling about life.
In any case, here’s a playlist of songs that inspired the writing of ‘ICFMH’. It was surprisingly quite a profound experience expanding this playlist. I rediscovered all these songs I was listening to growing up that I have long forgotten but hear in my writing… I guess the finding of one’s head is an ongoing process.
Fun fact: this one is a keyboard song. I turned to the synths only because I can’t really play guitar, very sad. Isa Ong wrote the guitars in this one."
‘Itsy Bitsy Spider (Feat. Claude Glass)'
"This was one of the songs that kickstarted this project and the EP. We were chilling out and having beers after work one day when Isa Ong (who co-wrote and co-produced the EP with me) offered to help write guitar parts over my music. I sent him this “Logic preset-esque” trip hop demo, and he gave it these angular, dark coloured clothes – it sounded like he remixed the demo!
It was very interesting because I had to exercise different parts of my brain writing over this track. One of the challenges I had fun with was trying to write vocal parts that could help tie the complexities of the whole arrangement together. Isa and I also both took turns writing and playing the bass on different parts of the track."
‘City Atlas’
"‘City Atlas’ is an old song I wrote with my sister many years ago. It came from noticing how the places we spend our time in and with actually shape how we live, often without us even realizing it. I remember this one day walking through the Woodlands Bus Checkpoint and feeling this weird pressure to keep up with everyone's rushed pace (even though nobody was actually pushing me to hurry). I wasn't comfortable, but I wasn't exactly uncomfortable either - just slightly out of place.
And then I thought: what if I had to do this same trip five days a week? Would I naturally start walking faster over time? Would I become someone who gets annoyed at slower walkers? Little environmental nudges add up over time and subtly change us. This song is for all of us city people who sometimes feel like we're just trying to find our way through spaces and lives that weren't designed with our natural rhythms in mind."
‘sundough’
"I like to think this song feels like how mothers are symbolically supposed to feel – non-judgmental and always there to give you a loving embrace. In this song's world, there exists some kind of hope out there while fully acknowledging that the world has done you dirty. Part of the point of life is about experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions, right? Sadness in the face of happiness. Happiness in the face of sadness.
It was also around that time I listened to a lot more ambient music and reframed what it meant to me. The second half in particular, was in part inspired by Salamanda's ‘Kali’ - the way they layer different elements that float and exist on top of a recurring riff. I imagined group vocals for the second half so I invited a few of my friends, including Isa, to sing on this one. It was the maddest, most surreal moment to witness people singing lyrics I wrote. We recorded it all in Isa's room."
‘shimmerboy’
"When I think of ‘shimmerboy’, I think of The Corrs because my mom used to play a lot of their music at home. I loosely channelled what I thought their melodies might feel like while writing some of the melodies for this one. I started making it a point to sometimes write stuff I think she can relate to too. Also revisiting The Corrs was really fun.
Interestingly enough, this song was originally conceived because I was inspired by Alex G’s ‘Clouds’. I know it sounds nothing like that now, and I am happy it became a guitar song! Courtesy of Isa who played and recorded all the guitars.
I am not sure what the lyrics make people feel, but in hindsight I realise I might have kept them fuzzy like the guitars, because some of the stuff I was feeling did not align with how I perceived myself back then. To some extent, the song ended up being a way of processing those feelings and parts of myself, but in a less confrontational way."
‘mustard’
"‘shimmerboy’ is such a stacked song but we close off the EP with this quiet number that is the direct opposite of that. To be honest, I am very happy with how minimal it is. It is typically a challenge for me to keep things simple because I get carried away (and distracted) very easily. The song’s sparse arrangement was initially borne out of a random sudden urge to “finish” writing a song before I head out to meet a friend one evening. Somehow that initial arrangement stuck, and though it took me a long time, I now accept and believe with conviction that this song is meant to be simple and sparse.
I am also glad Isa forced me to play the bass on this one (I’ve been making him play the bass on most of the other tracks). On many levels, the lack of hiding spaces in this song has forced me to come to terms with listening to and accepting my “voice”.
