As a female musician, Laoyu poured the most delicate and hidden emotions of girlhood into A Crush On River. She said she had never imagined doing a bedroom project before, nor even becoming a guitarist: “It always felt like those beautiful sounds coming from an amp were an eternal mystery, something only handsome boys could produce.” That changed one day when she heard Skip Skip Ben Ben’s self-made album No-Fi No Fiction.
She was moved by Lin Banban’s simple and pure bedroom creations, and finally gathered the courage: “So it turns out you can fully express your ideas alone in a room—and such a beautiful guitar sound can come from this lovely girl’s hands!” That candid way of expression struck Laoyu deeply.
Clean melodies and sincere lyrics have since become the creative standard of A Crush On River. For example, the lead track of her new EP, “Online Romance,” was actually the very first Chinese song she wrote when trying to compose. Like many young girls, Laoyu often found herself confused by love. She imagined throwing herself into a relationship that didn’t quite feel like love—pulled by constant distance and entanglement—and from that tension, she wove the story of an online romance into this song. Another track, “You Don’t Want to Believe Me,” was born out of a quarrel. At that time, Laoyu barely knew how to finger guitar chords, yet the chord progression flowed naturally out of uncontrollable sadness, and she sang out: “You don’t want to believe me.” “There’s no right or wrong in arguments,” she says. “What makes things worse is when they spiral into personal attacks and mutual blame.”
In addition to the new EP released online, the cassette’s B-side also includes two new demos Laoyu recently wrote and one cover. Influenced by Japanese Breakfast, she once followed Michelle’s practice of using short phone recordings to capture each day of a month. The two demos chosen here were born from that writing exercise.
“22-Year-Old Thoughts” is a Cantonese song recording conversations with friends: in university they talked only about boys, but after graduation, the topic shifted to marriage—an irony of growing up. “Roar” depicts exchanges with an imagined “him,” with Laoyu portrayed as a shy, insecure girl. And the cover of Dear Eloise was her personal indulgence: she was touched by the love between Yang Haisong and Sun Xia (“Who doesn’t like guitar boys?”). She once even left a comment on Dear Eloise’s page: “It’s been a year and I still haven’t found a boy to play in a band with me.” But now Laoyu says she doesn’t really need a guitar boy anymore: “Because I’m almost figuring out the electric guitar on my own!”
She was moved by Lin Banban’s simple and pure bedroom creations, and finally gathered the courage: “So it turns out you can fully express your ideas alone in a room—and such a beautiful guitar sound can come from this lovely girl’s hands!” That candid way of expression struck Laoyu deeply.
Clean melodies and sincere lyrics have since become the creative standard of A Crush On River. For example, the lead track of her new EP, “Online Romance,” was actually the very first Chinese song she wrote when trying to compose. Like many young girls, Laoyu often found herself confused by love. She imagined throwing herself into a relationship that didn’t quite feel like love—pulled by constant distance and entanglement—and from that tension, she wove the story of an online romance into this song. Another track, “You Don’t Want to Believe Me,” was born out of a quarrel. At that time, Laoyu barely knew how to finger guitar chords, yet the chord progression flowed naturally out of uncontrollable sadness, and she sang out: “You don’t want to believe me.” “There’s no right or wrong in arguments,” she says. “What makes things worse is when they spiral into personal attacks and mutual blame.”
In addition to the new EP released online, the cassette’s B-side also includes two new demos Laoyu recently wrote and one cover. Influenced by Japanese Breakfast, she once followed Michelle’s practice of using short phone recordings to capture each day of a month. The two demos chosen here were born from that writing exercise.
“22-Year-Old Thoughts” is a Cantonese song recording conversations with friends: in university they talked only about boys, but after graduation, the topic shifted to marriage—an irony of growing up. “Roar” depicts exchanges with an imagined “him,” with Laoyu portrayed as a shy, insecure girl. And the cover of Dear Eloise was her personal indulgence: she was touched by the love between Yang Haisong and Sun Xia (“Who doesn’t like guitar boys?”). She once even left a comment on Dear Eloise’s page: “It’s been a year and I still haven’t found a boy to play in a band with me.” But now Laoyu says she doesn’t really need a guitar boy anymore: “Because I’m almost figuring out the electric guitar on my own!”
!!click it to her Bandcamp!!
Always write some simple songs with a little girl's voice.
Drove by 80s twee-pop and 90s shoegaze music.
Drove by 80s twee-pop and 90s shoegaze music.