Viscerally impacted by the pandemic, the spike in anti-Asian hate and the unexpected death of her father, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jen Shyu finds direction through art on Zero Grasses, the third album from her compact, chamber-like improvising ensemble, Jade Tongue. As with all her song cycles, Shyu plays a complex role, layering involved vocal parts in several languages and playing the Taiwanese moon lute or yueqin (“Father Slipped Into Eternal Dream”, “Life As You Envision”), Japanese biwa (“Display of the Moon”), gongs (“Lament for Breonna Taylor”) and also piano, her first instrument, bringing another harmonic dimension to “Living’s a Gift – Part 4”, “Body of Tears”, “Finally She Emerges” and “With Eyes Closed You See All”. The Asian string instruments—reflecting Shyu’s immersive travel and study experiences in many musical cultures—create an enigmatic blend with Thomas Morgan’s upright bass, Mat Maneri’s viola and Ambrose Akinmusire’s trumpet, as drummer Dan Weiss brings textural and rhythmic detail to bear. Drawing on childhood diaries and more recent personal accounts, Shyu blurs boundaries between composition, improvisation and theatrical performance as she attains stunning new levels of vocal virtuosity.