"Electric sound-waves that pulse through our sleep ...and our dreams"
Quieter Than Spiders release their long-awaited debut album Signs of Life. The Chinese-Anglo band was formed in Shanghai in 2012 and has been quietly rising to prominence among the electronic music community with what the group self-styles as ‘Shanghai Synthpop’. Online music magazine The Electricity Club included Quieter Than Spiders in a list of their favourite new artists and described them as “What OMD would sound like if they formed in the 21st Century”.
Signs of Life was self-produced by the group and combines their contrasting styles of uptempo synthpop and slow reflective melancholy. The album features 10 tracks including familiar songs such as Hibakusha, Shanghai Metro, The Land of Lost Content and No Illusion. There are also 10 remixes by artists such as Kevin Komoda from Rational Youth, Vile Electrodes and The Silicon Scientist. Signs of Life also includes 8 mini interludes which the group describes as ‘brief dream sequences’. Group member Leon Zhang said: “the album includes a slower and more experimental side to our music that people haven’t yet heard from us, especially songs such as The Signs of Life and The Statues which are more personal and introverted.”
The album was recorded in both Shanghai and the UK and was mastered in Germany by Stefan Bornhorst (aka The Silicon Scientist). The group did not use a formal recording space which gave them the opportunity to experiment. “We used minimal equipment which gave us the opportunity to record songs in a variety of places. We even recorded parts in an old deserted Shanghai building earmarked for demolition, and in an overgrown tunnel that we found deep in the English countryside”.
About Quieter Than Spiders
Quieter Than Spiders are Leon Zhang, Yifan Zhang and Yao Zhang. The members, who are all related, prefer to stay in the background and let their music represent them on its own. Yifan said: “We just want to make music and stay as quiet as possible about ourselves - we feel more comfortable that way because, as our name suggests, we really are quiet people.” The band’s name actually comes from an old school nickname for one of the members.
Speaking about their influences, Yao said: “We like many types of music but we especially like early electronic music. The experimental nature of it and the subtle imperfections often give the music a haunting atmosphere - it somehow sounds both modern and timelessly old at the same time.” She added: “Electronic music arrived in China in a polished digital form via modern commercial pop but we wanted to step back and approach electronic music from an earlier time point.”
2CD features: limited edition of 300 copies, 6pp Digipak with lyrics and credits on inner pages, design by Steve Lippert, mastered by Stefan Bornhorst, remixes by Delayscape, Jonteknik, Kevin Komoda, Micro Cheval, Quieter Than Spiders, The Silicon Scientist and Vile Electrodes
Tracklisting CD1:
| No. |
Track |
Time |
| 1 |
ARCADE EIGHTY-FIVE |
-- |
| 2 |
NO ILLUSION |
-- |
| 3 |
I - Disorientation |
-- |
| 4 |
NIGHT DRIVE |
-- |
| 5 |
II - 2139 |
-- |
| 6 |
THE LAND OF LOST CONTENT |
-- |
| 7 |
III - Distant |
-- |
| 8 |
SHANGHAI METRO |
-- |
| 9 |
IV - Chang'e |
-- |
| 10 |
FESSENDEN GROVE |
-- |
| 11 |
HIBAKUSHA |
-- |
| 12 |
V - Silent Centre |
-- |
| 13 |
KOMAROV |
-- |
| 14 |
VI - Brave New World |
-- |
| 15 |
THE SIGNS OF LIFE |
-- |
| 16 |
VII - Re-Generator |
-- |
| 17 |
THE STATUES |
-- |
| 18 |
VIII - Zara In The Stars |
-- |
Tracklisting CD2:
| No. |
Track |
Time |
| 1 |
NO ILLUSION Quieter Than Spiders ‘Quietli' mix |
-- |
| 2 |
HIBAKUSHA Kevin Komoda remix |
-- |
| 3 |
THE LAND OF LOST CONTENT Micro Cheval remix |
-- |
| 4 |
SHANGHAI METRO Vile Electrodes remix |
-- |
| 5 |
NIGHT DRIVE Delayscape mix 2 |
-- |
| 6 |
NO ILLUSION The Silicon Scientist remix |
-- |
| 7 |
HIBAKUSHA Jonteknik remix |
-- |
| 8 |
NIGHT DRIVE Delayscape mix 3 |
-- |
| 9 |
THE LAND OF LOST CONTENT Quieter Than Spiders ‘Memorial’ mix |
-- |
| 10 |
HIBAKUSHA Delayscape remix |
-- |
» Further products of Quieter Than Spiders
Quieter Than Spiders @ Soundcloud
Quieter Than Spiders @ Facebook
» Further products of Anna Logue Records
