兰州 兰州

Low Worwood’s album Lanzhou Lanzhou was first released under Maybe Mars’ folk branch lable Maybe Horse.


The cliché goes that some geographical areas are synonymous with certain sounds: Merseybeat from Liverpool, for example, or grunge from Seattle. But it’s also the case that certain bands define their locales. Here, one tends to think of such acts as Arcade Fire, who did just that for Montreal with Funeral and The Suburbs. Such is the case with Low Wormwood, whose latest album, Lanzhou Lanzhou is perhaps a defining moment for both the band and the city of the title.

Unlike many bands from Lanzhou, this quartet don’t practise harmony- driven guitar folk. The metrics of this album depart from their early grunge and shoot for a less fiery but more coherent structure, coupling string-soaked flourishes of folk-rock with mundane lyrics about day-to-day living in Lanzhou. It borders on being a concept album, but the catchy rhythms manage to dilute the anthropological solemnity and make this something special.

Liu Kun, the fromtman of Low Wormwood said, recording this album was just like being in love. And as a Lanzhou band, this Lanzhou clue runs through the whole album, releated to every song. Unlike other folk bands from northwest of China, Low Wormwood’s songs are more gentle and soft, as warm as Lanzhou noodles.

‘Recording this album is almost like being in a relationship,’ explains lead singer Liu Kun. ‘When you love each other, it really burns. When you hate each other… well, it also burns.’

The titled song Lanzhou Lanzhou hit No.2 on Douban music chart and got “The best folk song of 2011“ in Douban Music Awards.

released July 8, 2012