Knots, the new EP from Singapore-born, New York-based singer-songwriter W. Y. Huang, is a release created in response to chronic pain. Serving not only “as an exploration of pain and healing,” as we wrote in a preview back in March, but “the more general transience of things and the ebb and flow of hope.” Single ‘Life Just Lately’ invited New York rapper Granata to help introduce these themes with a reflective, languid slice of indie pop, while follow-up ‘Give It Time’ saw Huang address himself, looking, as we put it, “to extend the kind of patience and empathy we might offer others to oneself.”
Both tracks typified a collection created with a kind of determined patience, Huang working layer by layer whenever his health allowed across three years, displaying all the care and kindness required to persevere through such things. “When I started making this record it felt like I might not have it in me to make another one after this,” Huang says, “So I put all of myself in it. I think the process itself gave me strength. It gave me hope in life and music again.”
What emerges is a perhaps surprising subtle EP. One driven by the wisdom delivered in ‘Give it Time’, where impermanence becomes both a comfort and a motivation to create. W. Y. Huang has worked across a variety of genres in his musical career to date, starting with the folk rock of MONSTER CAT and leading through a variety of electronic and dance styles and even more traditional forms. Knots feels informed by every one of these past experiences. For even if they do not make themselves directly apparent within the sound, there’s a confidence present. A fluidity and ease suggestive of an artist who has spent time exploring their tastes and honing their craft. One ready to share something intimate.
The title track ‘Knots’ is indicative of the result. Perhaps the simplest, most hushed on the release, though the one which sits at the heart of the collection and anchors everything else. It’s a song which feels completely intentional in every aspect. Something between a confession and a prayer as voiced in the quiet hours of the night. Pain can so often strip a life to a single, burning point, but ‘Knots’ works against this notion. Reopening the full dimensions of Huang’s existence, unfurling a life beyond the present to include the full breadth of memory, history and hope for what is to come.
Knots is out now and available from the W. Y. Huang Bandcamp page.