Dreams lost, Dreams gained
A Lonely Guest in the Vast Haze
When these two lines of text appeared on the big screen, some fans couldn't help but shed tears.
"Who has Lost Dreams," this old song from ten years ago, had been performed again during this year in Zhaoze’s new album tour and received enthusiastic love from the audience.
And today, the release of the new version of this old recording is actually the beginning of the third stage of this instrumental piece's life.
Chapter One: Innocent Childhood
Just like the stages of a person's life, the first stage can be counted from birth, which is also the first performance. At that time, it was called "Lost Dream". It was created around 2005 and was documented in a live performance in Hong Kong in 2007.
Chapter Two: Mature Adolescence
In 2013, Zhaoze released another instrumental concept album called "Yond". Although it only contained six tracks, it lasted for an hour.
After more rehearsals and modifications during live performances, this piece was expanded and officially included as a studio version in the album "Yond". This time, the Hoy’s performance was split into two, with half of it performed on the guqin (an ancient Chinese zither).
This can be considered as the second stage of its life.
This version featured alternating between the newly arranged guqin instrumental and the original guitar rock lineup. It had a melancholic and ethereal quality, yet still retained the youthful spirit. It was like two conflicting forces pulling and supporting each other, constantly changing and fluctuating.
Although it was named "Who has Lost Dreams," some fans described the experience of listening to its 9-minute duration as falling into a colorful dream.
Chapter Three: Weathered Youth
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the release of the album "Yond". Some of the classic tracks from this album were rearranged and performed again, with "Who has Lost Dreams" being performed the most.
After a period of live performances, Zhaoze made further adaptations based on the previous two versions and had the idea to record this new version in the studio.
The biggest difference between this third version of "Who has Lost Dreams" and the second version is the removal of the guqin. It now features a minimalistic arrangement with only two guitars and a bass drum. However, it is not a straightforward restoration of the first version. Compared to the original version, it retains some of the sections added in the guqin version.
Moreover, this recording took a very primitive approach: recording the band's synchronous performance. A recording and mixing engineer, Park, whom Zhaoze had collaborated with for a long time, placed the drum and guitar/bass speakers in a small space and then each musician took their positions to record simultaneously. This allowed capturing the natural reverb of the real space and made the emotions and dynamics more synchronized, natural, and closer to a live performance.
Therefore, this version of "Who has Lost Dreams" can be considered both new and old, representing the third stage of its life. One piece of music, three versions, representing its three stages of life.
Why not compare the three versions to the three stages of life - youth, middle age, and old age - instead of only describing the youth stage?
Firstly, the new version retains its energetic and vigorous spirit, having gone through changes and hardships but not losing its heroic nature.
Secondly, it can also be seen as a wish or a hope. Looking towards the future, perhaps this composition will continue to evolve, with more possibilities being brewed.
沼澤Zhaoze, the one and only, electrify Guqin (most traditional Chinese instrument), and combines it with Post-rock,
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