User talk:Fearstrikesmankind

Nuance
Nuance is an alternative rock quartet from Singapore.Being influenced by a vast variety of genres, the band’s repertoire ranges from alt-rock to post-rock, and comes taut with sharp pop sensibilities within explosive cathartics. Their songs deal with the tormenters and the tormented, from little personal pieces to epics about politics, from losers and drunks to politicians in power.

History
It began in 2000 when Donald Pan (vocals, guitar) and Calvin Chian (drums) became friends in an Internet chat room with a shared admiration for artistes like Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Elliot Smith. Calvin recalls, “He was this loony talking to himself but was making more sense than the others chatting in that channel”. It wasn’t a wonder that the then army medic forged a friendship with the psychology major.

A year later the idea of forming a band took shape. Calvin roped his pals, Xu Yong Hui (guitar) and Kevin Loh (bass) into the outfit. Getting together is easy, but keeping it going isn’t, as Donald juggles his studies in Melbourne and the band in Singapore.

In 2004, Nuance issued a self-released bedroom demo that cost them S$26 to produce. By mid 2006, Hui had left and Alexius Cai (guitar) joined the band. At the tail end of 2007, Nuance started work on their self-titled EP, produced by Evan Tan (The Observatory) and Eugene Wong (Morphy).

Discography
Nuance, will be releasing their self-titled debut on 1 July, 2008. The EP contains six songs and two video tracks, and was produced, mixed and recorded by Evan Tan (The Observatory), Eugene Wong (Morphy) and Nuance, between November 2007 and May 2008.

Traversing from spirited indie-rock to folk, Nuance’s songs stalk their way under your skin, exploring the ills of current affairs and the theme of testament inspired messages.

The band wanted a balance to the EP that would reflect what we are now. Songs like Mesopotamia and Fear Strikes Mankind have evolved a lot since we first wrote and performed them. It is all about breaking out of the genre box and not sticking to a particular mode of songwriting and playing. In that, we are always looking forward to catching listeners off guard with an unpredictable repertoire.

The evolution of the songs was quite natural. Throughout the writing process, Nuance often surprised themselves, allowing the song to ‘organically’ grow on its own, by jamming free form and letting the music lift-off towards unknown places.

Tracklisting
Mesopotamia Written in the aftermath of the announcement from the US that they will go hunt down Saddam in Iraq, Mesopotamia is a song about tyranny and about the poor boys that sign up to fight for their country. Ultimately it’s the tragedy of it all and the death of diplomacy. Silver City Silver City was born during an ad hoc jam with Alexius Cai, when he first joined the band. It started off as a song about Donald Pan's grandpa who passed away 3 years ago. Says Donald, "My dad didn’t get to see him as much because he was in a different country, and I didn’t get to see either of them much, because all three of us were in different countries. That situation spurred me on to develop the lyrics into a narrative of a man who’s on his deathbed, wishing to correct regrets, which he can’t.” Fear Strikes Mankind (Part I & II) This is another song from the early years of the band's inception. There are two parts to it. The second part was developed over the years. Fear Part I is the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Old Testament. Abraham has to sacrifice Isaac under God’s command. So the story is told from both Abraham and Isaac’s viewpoint. The song is about faith and the struggle between not wanting to do something and the duty of having to do something. It’s an existential question about whether there is a purpose to this. Like, would God not allow this evil to be carried out? Is there a purpose? Fear II is about organized religion and the question of whether or not we are serving the purpose of God by following the purpose of the Church. Labour and Luna Labour and Luna, are two live tracks recorded at Home Club by Joe Ng (ex-Padres).