mui zyu discusses influences behind debut solo LP ‘Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century’
Hong Kong British artist Eva Liu, who fronts UK trio Dama Scout, has released her first solo album as mui zyu, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century, via Father/Daughter Records. It's a swirling dreamscape of collaged sounds sweetened with touches of pop, and you can stream it below. Lui drew inspiration from fantasy video games, folklore, and her Chinese heritage in its creation; we asked her about other influences on the album, and she made us a list that includes certain sounds, videos of David Byrne dancing, and more. Read it, complete with her commentary, below.
mui zyu has a few shows coming up in March and April, including a stop in Austin for SXSW. See all dates below.
MUI ZYU: INFLUENCES ON ROTTEN BUN FOR AN EGGLESS CENTURY
1. Cover art of Teresa Teng records
2. The low notes on the piano when you’re actually in the room with one. They can be pretty overwhelming.
3. ESEA Sisters, a community group I joined in 2021 of women, trans, non-binary and gender-queer people with East and South East Asian heritage. There have been meet-ups, walks, an overflowing discord, healing circles, concerts and many other arms to the collective. For the first time in my life I have a collective of friends who have this commonality in our shared experiences. I felt more empowered working on this record as a result of meeting these amazing people.
4. The feeling of overwhelming fearful anticipation that ‘Dan’ feels as he approaches the corner outside the diner in David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive.
5. Pink and brown noise. We listened to a lot of brown noise when we weren’t working on music and used pink (and a little bit of white) noise in the recordings too.
6. Sleeping & dreams... my dream journal made its way in to lyrics on the album. We also chatted about feelings that would be interesting to try to recreate in ‘music’ - and the feeling of waking, forgetting your dream, and feeling so sad you’ve lost this memory was an idea we chased. Sleep is also just the best, I could probably sleep forever. I guess I will one day.
7. Laughter. Making this record with Lucci was a really fun enjoyable experience, even though some of the music is ‘serious’ we laughed every day when working on it, be it from messing around with sounds or just talking rubbish. Having a really open access-to-silly environment where ‘bad’ ideas were welcome felt like the best place to try to find ‘good’ ones too.
8. Videos of David Byrne dancing
9. My parents. I am really inspired by and grateful to my parents. They made so many sacrifices to give my siblings and I a much better life than what they’d experienced growing up (in Hong Kong, Ireland and England). Recordings of both my parents are on the album. I happily accept whatever unique ways they are supportive of my work.
10. Eating. A welcome (and essential) break from writing was eating - from attempting to cook my dad’s Chinese dishes (s/o to bitter melon), going for a walk and having injera, okra and lentils from the local Ethiopian stand or lastly treating ourselves to amazing meals by Eat With Spoons were among the best pit stops along the way.
--
MUI ZYU: 2023 TOUR
March 1 - London, UK @ Servant Jazz Quarters (Sold Out)
March 13-18 - Austin, TX @ SXSW
March 17 - Austin, TX @ Vaquero Taquero (Father/Daughter & Bayonet Official Showcase)
April 22 - London, UK @ Shoreditch Town Hall (supporting Emmy The Great)