(DAIRY OF 28 SLEEPLESS DAYS)

While China has opened up substantially to the rest of the world in the last couple decades it seems the music scene is still a mystery as hardly anything gets exported abroad but there are a few exceptions despite far from being household names. The post- rock band WANG WEN (惘闻) was formed by guitarists Xie Yugang and Geng Xin in the northeastern city of Dalian (near the Koreas) all the way back in the year 1999 just when the genre was in its prime and since they debuted have become internationally recognized as well as recording later albums in Sigur Ros' studio in Iceland as well as having Efrim from Godspeed! You Black Emperor mixing their 6th album 'L&R.'

While primarily known as an instrumental band, a decision that transcends the language barriers, in the earliest days of the bands existence most of the tracks included vocals in presumably the Mandarin Chinese language. This debut album DIARY OF 28 SLEEPLESS DAYS = 二十八天失眠日记 was released under the moniker 惘聞樂隊 which translates into Unknown Band but the group has always referred to themselves as WANG WEN which means 'do not hear' or 'ignore' which was mined from a native idiom and since post-rock is all about nebulous mystery making, all this arcane linguistic wordplay with Chinese characters suits the band's style quite well.

This band was primary influenced by the Smashing Pumpkins actually and although the musical flow comes across as a standard post-rock cyclical melodic groove flow like most others accompanied by the Lou Reed inspired half-spoken, half-sung vocals, there are a few grungy outbursts of distorted guitar chords and alternative 90s styled rock but generally speaking they subside rather quickly and allow the post-rock repetition flow like an endless river throughout the album's length. The tracks are rather melancholy as the vocals are rather subdued and sad but i have no idea what the lyrics refer to. The atmospheres are thick and the tempos are faster than the typical post-rock style.

As all lyrics are in a Chinese language and the tracks are written in characters with the sole exception of the finale 'A Song For You Wen,' this really comes off as an exotic far-flung listening experience with nothing tangible to latch onto except for the post-rock stylistic approach that is rather familiar in the West at this point. While the band would become more developed in honing their skills and finding its own unique sound, nothing on DIARY OF 28 SLEEPLESS DAYS really stands out and comes off as a rather generic meandering through the post-rock paradigm. You got the endless riffs that repeat til infinity. Some dynamics clashing and buildings in intensity and some lazy vocals struggling to find the will to carry on.

This must have been quite welcome in the band's native China since as far as i know they were the populous nation's very first post- rock band but for those who have been soaking in the sounds of Godspeed!, Sigur Ros, Magyar Posse or Battlestations for all these years then WANGWEN will come off as a little lackluster on this debut with a sound that very much sounds like they are merely getting their feet wet in an unfamiliar style of music foreign to their upbringing. Nothing on this debut is bad per se but neither is it exciting as it fails to convey a greater sum of the parts feel that truly captivating post-rock can do. Things would get better but on this debut things are just pretty meh.

2.5 rounded down