Xiao Yun – Purple Garden

Originally released on CD-only in 1994 and recently reissued by Osaka’s EM Records, Purple Garden is a hidden gem featuring futuristic ambient-Mandarin pop from Shanghai-born vocalist Xiao Yun Wu. Produced by Henry Kawahara, who is known as a master of “cyber-occult” music which blended supernatural spirituality with futuristic technology, the album transports listeners to a “sparkling future” filled with electronic percussion, keyboards, and guitar along with digital bamboo flute and other traditional folk instruments. Xiao Yun’s ethereal vocals clearly draw from a traditional Mandarin pop and Chinese folksong background making the pairing with Kawahara’s experimental and often quite trippy production all that much better. Read more about Henry Kawahara’s music in this great feature by EM Records founder Koki Emura (use Google Translate).

Available now in-store: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/product/xiao-yun-purple-garden-lp/

Recommended – A1 紫楽園 = Purple Garden, B1 竹樂聖誕節 = Bamboo Christmas