I’m listening to KAI TAK and shivers are cascading through my whole body. A magical landscape is emerging in my mind, painted with shoegaze, trip hop, and electronica brushes, creating a gorgeous, vibrant, and completely immersive sonic experience that I need to keep hitting repeat on. The song we’re excited to share today, “Flood the Harbour,” features ethereal vocals from Olivia Lee of There’s Talk. And like I said, I keep listening to it over and over again, reaching the end and not wanting to leave the cocoon it’s woven around me. The track is off Kai Tak’s upcoming record Designed In Heaven Made In Hong Kong out June 21 on A La Carte Records — pre-order the record here and get the single on Bandcamp or pre-save it here. Right now, read about producer Chris King’s and vocalist Olivia Lee’s inspiration, while you listen to our premiere of “Flood the Harbour.”
The music for Flood the Harbour was written on the same day I wrote, Blush. After feeling uninspired for a long time, I spent the day repeatedly watching Fallen Angels on mute while messing around with instruments, and 90% of both songs were written in a few hours.
Chris King
Whenever I’m working on something new, I always give the songs a temporary working title of the neighborhood that inspired the tune, or that I’m using found samples from, and this song drew from Yau Ma Tei. Formerly a little fishing bay, Yau Ma Tei has been built extensively upon reclaimed land.
Because of Hong Kong’s limited usable land and massive population density, land reclamation has been a central part of the city’s growth over the past century – over 60 km of land has been added to the city from land reclamation projects, including part of the old Kai Tak airport, and just thinking about land reclamation and it’s endless ripples helped shape the song.
I aligned on inspiration with Chris – the lyrics came to mind after simmering on the working title for the song, Yau Ma Tei, as well as hazy neon-lit montages from Fallen Angels. Sinking into the broodiness of the song, images of a revolution on the heels of the end of the world engulfed in flames and flood came to mind. Perhaps a meditation on the consequences of colonialism and corporate greed, and who will have the last word.
Olivia Lee
Song credits:
Chris King (Production, mixing, guitar, bass, synths, drum programming)
Olivia Lee (Lead vocals)
Tamaryn (Co-writer, additional vocals, additional production)
Shane Sato (Drums)
Anni Abigail Casella (Mastering)
Paige Emery (Art)
