“I want people to feel comfortable, relaxed and stress-free after listening to my music,” A-Yue Chang tells Apple Music about Go With The Flow, his first album in 12 years. The LP finds the mischievous romantic of Taiwanese rock in his early fifties, and dealing with questions and loss with equanimity. “The past few years, I’ve felt like the mood of my music has changed,” he says. “My songs used to be direct but now they process emotions in a different way. I don’t want them to be too melodramatic.”
Blending his trademark rebellious rock and lovelorn ballads with the nature themes of 2013’s I Am Ayal Komod, Chang uses the world around him for inspiration. Romantic anticipation meets the quest for the perfect wave in the throwback groove of “Surfer’s Love Story”, while explosive heartbreak anthem “Errand Boy” and blues rocker “Want To Take You Home” present contrasting perspectives on parties. “There’s so much you can draw from life,” he says. “You can write about everything from emotions and experiences to family.”
Matching Chang’s mellow emotions are piano-driven arrangements that luxuriate in harmonies and layered instrumentation. Chang’s interest in jazz turns up on a number of album tracks, in particular a new version of “Rainy Season”, a song originally written for Will Pan. “The demo for that was arranged in the style of my early work,” Chang says. “I wanted to make this version as different as possible from that demo and Will Pan’s version. I wanted it to be a little slower. And then, sitting at my computer, I had the idea to put in some jazz elements.” To the piano accompaniment, Chang added brushed percussion and a double bass. “I love the warmth of the double bass and use it a lot,” he says. “Finally, in a stroke of genius, my producer H.K.H added a flugelhorn that feels like it’s duetting with me on the last chorus.”
From the raucous party-goers on “Want To Take You Home” to the children’s choir that adds a hopeful coda to the gospel-inflected eulogy “Mama’s Eyes”, backing vocals are a notable element of the arrangements on this LP. Chang singles out two backing singers in particular—Angel Chen on “Sadly Moving On” and aDAN on “Surfer’s Love Story”. “I wondered at the time if I ought to turn down the backing vocals a little,” he says. “But they sounded so good that there was no need to soften them. Those parts sound really special.”
