At the end of the day there should be nothing revolutionary about Chinese indie rock. Television, the press, and the internet should've helped bring things like Sigur Ros over to Beijing, and what with all the bootlegging over there it shouldn't be any surprise. But that doesn't diminish the quality of Lonely China Day at all, nor does it change the fact that this is probably the only Chinese indie rock band that I know. So it's lucky for them that they're actually quite a striking band, and that I love this song.
With a title like sorrow and with that much passion in the vocals, it doesn't seem to matter so much that I dont speak Chinese. I think I have a pretty decent understanding of the song, or at least what it means to me.
This song starts out slow -- a steady wood block, a quiet guitar line. It builds patiently until Deng Pei's vocals kick in, and then it's just beautiful. It's just a really cool song. It comes off their self-titled EP which was just released in March on Tag Team Records. The label's mission is to bring international indie rock to America. I like this mission. I think it's a good one. Man, the chorus on this is really good, huh? There's some subtle bits of programming going on in the background that really glue the whole thing together, and that little howl at the end is just fantastic. Great stuff.
You can pick up the EP on the cheap direct from the label. I guess it's also available over in China at independent record stores. Highly recommended.
p.s. - if their official site is down, you can try here.