Hong Kong in the 60s have been on God Is in the TV’s radar for some time; with such a great band name, regular and free downloads over the past few years have kept us paying attention. Of them, the lovely “Disintegration” ended up on both the Willow Pattern Songs and Places EPs, and a more electronic “Shadow Of The Bear” closes their debut album My Fantoms.
With its lush spectral soundscapes sliding from soft candlelit contemplation to breezy autumnal pop, My Fantoms was one of my Top 5 records of 2011. Opium visions of Gallic Stereolab numbers crossing the Channel – teasingly fading, sensuously reappearing – transporting over English twilit skies. A warm blanket of blips and sparkles to soundtrack your elegantly surreal evenings.
Christopher Greenberg, Mei Yau Kan and Tim Scullion formed Hong Kong in the 60s in London in 2007. Sean O’Hagan of The High Llamas soon described their music as a “lovely, understated and quite beautiful sound”. Their first release was the poppy, sometimes reminiscent of Misadventures of Margaret-era Saint Etienne, Willow Pattern Songs in 2009, featuring the excellent Footsteps and Disintegration. “Footsteps” was released as a single on Proper Songs in early 2010, with a great remix by The Last Skeptik as the b-side. The Places EP came out at the end of 2010 and can be downloaded for free from their Bandcamp site. Except for “The Advisory Circle Reshape of Disintegration”, the EP is entirely instrumental with “Now Boarding/The Arrival” being particularly gorgeous. My Fantomswas released in May last year, highlights including the languid opener “When You Were Dreaming”, synth-poppy Diaryland and the laidback 60s pop of All At Sea.
I had the pleasure of seeing them live twice last summer and was very impressed. They do justice to the rich sounds of the records and aren’t afraid to take chances by changing up the songs or playing new compositions, even ending with them. And as the new songs are just as good as their previous output, these risks pay off.
