The toy piano is her trademark, but on the album Bakunawa she also plays on the rods from grandmother's longcase clock. Pak Yan Lau has certainly always been a maverick. During her time in lockdown, she derived pleasure from creating music and ceramics.
© Mich Leemans
| Pak Yan Lau: “At a time when we are all looking for the end of the tunnel, Japanese guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama’s Thaumaturgy is very soothing.”
“I have a dealer from the Netherlands,” Pak Yan Lau is suddenly very excited during our Zoom appointment. It turns out she is talking about the guy who provides her with the oblong rods on which the pendulum of a standing clock beats. “They produce incredible overtones!” This immediately illustrates the sound universe of the Brussels-based musician and sound artist. On Bakunawa, three members of her band Going participate, plus Vera Cavallin, who plays prepared harp.
“We play two long compositions: the first one is full of drones and moves slowly along, the second one is much more rhythmic. The title refers to a myth about a sea dragon that eats moons. One every day of the week. But when the dragon has eaten six, people have had enough. One version of the legend says that they then start to make such beautiful music that he falls asleep, another that they bring out pots and pans to silence him.” Lau proves that even detuned toy pianos would be suitable for this.
In March 2020, she was actually supposed to go on tour with double bassist Darin Gray, with whom she has recorded the duo album Trudge Lightly for the Brussels label By the Bluest of Seas, but that fell through. Music remained important during the lockdown, with residencies in Q-O2, De Studio and Werkplaats Walter, and now also in Les Ateliers Claus. Lau made a “BSB on the go” for the Beursschouwburg. Her musical walk takes you along the Zenne/Senne river and the Brussels-Charleroi Canal. That way, her predilection for water and canals comes to the surface. These refer to her roots in Hong Kong and Antwerp, where her parents started a restaurant after their emigration.
In her own home studio, she made music for a French short film and a Portuguese feature film, as well as for a photographic project in which Illuminine and Christina Vantzou, among others, participated. “I also wrote a score to the images of the Belgian photographer Julie Calbert.” The wonderful result is the installation 29X Lumiere.
Psychokinetic powers
In addition, she was pleased to do something completely different. “I had started a ceramics course at the academy in Anderlecht just before the lockdown. When everything stopped, I took all my clay home with me. I found it great to be busy with my hands in a much more plastic way. Glazing is also pure chemistry, and the firing temperature determines the colour. Very interesting! I can recommend it to everyone. It's completely stress-free, and I want to keep it that way, even though friends advise me to sell my vases and jars because they think they're so beautiful.”
Pak Yan Lau appears to be fond of Anime and of Matthew McConaughey. “The extremely funny Mob Psycho 100 is about a boy who has psychokinetic powers, but doesn't realise it himself. I saw Interstellar on Netflix. McConaughey started out with flimsy roles in romantic comedies, but the performance he gives here is incredibly impressive. I also found Family Romance, a documentary by Werner Herzog about how in Japan you can even hire a 'family member'. Worth watching.”
She also really enjoyed The Delian Mode, a documentary about Delia Derbyshire, a female pioneer of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. “She created the theme song for the British science fiction series Doctor Who, but I was particularly inspired by the inventive way she used sounds of everyday objects. I have always been a fan of the musique concrète of, say, Luc Ferrari.”
However, one of the most beautiful records she has heard in recent months comes from Japanese guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama. “At a time when we are all looking for the end of the tunnel, his Thaumaturgy is very soothing.”
Interstellar trip
Finally, Pak Yan Lau has three more tips up her sleeve to make sure you get out of the door. “But when you enter Un Peu, you find yourself in another world. Founders Mathieu Ha and Cayo Scheyven call it a cultural beauty salon. The place functions as a gallery, concert hall, café and shop. It is eclectic, yet very open. Be sure to check out the TV soap Antennes Branches that they distribute via their YouTube channel.”
During the lockdown, she also discovered Fondation Folon in La Hulpe. “It's incomprehensible that the public is not more familiar with the work of illustrator and sculptor Jean-Michel Folon. Sometimes he even reminds me of Miyazaki. The whole picturesque domain is also ideal for a walk.”
She had known about the Planetarium for some time. More than that, it has always been a dream of hers to perform there one day. This will soon be fulfilled within the framework of the Brussels Museum Nocturnes. “With the recently installed projectors, they now have an extra trump card to play. If you are not allowed to travel, let this interstellar trip be an alternative.”
PAK YAN LAU: BAKUNAWA
Release: 21/5 via Cortizona Records
Performances: 28/5, Les Ateliers Claus, www.lesateliersclaus.com,
10/6, Planetarium, www.nocturnes.brussels
www.pakyanlau.com
Read more about: Muziek