Track list:
1 (06.23.17) From the doorway of the beef noodle shop, shoes on the street in the rain, outside the karate school
2 Rains lit by neon
3 In the middle of the moving field
4 (06.26.17) Maglev at 303 km/h
5 Text me when you wake up
6 For the entirety
7 (06.24.17) Birds inside the high halls of Hangzhou, (06.23.17) Shanghai red line, metro karaoke
8-9 Prelude to obsession I & II
10 (06.26.17) Waiting in Hangzhou
11 Our dream to be strangers
Release description:
Phonetic script: Xièxie
Chinese characters: 谢谢
谢谢 ( xiexie / xièxie ) is composed of these characters: 谢 (xie) , 谢 (xie)
English translation: thank you, thanks
to say | to thank | literally means ‘thanks’. ‘Thank you’ in Chinese would be xièxie nĭ (if you thank an individual), or xièxie nĭmen (to say thank you to a group of people).
– Chinese -> English Dictionary
A week before leaving, I bought a dictionary and phrasebook.
Covered in rain, during the days and even the nights, Shanghai was lit in a glow, a mist turning to a constant grey fog. Buildings lined with neon and lcd screens flashed, and from around corners and behind buildings, the night was illuminated much the same as the day. Cars separated the classes, their horns voices punctuating the streets, as pedestrians in groups loosely scattered the streets, talking and walking on speakerphone.
Standing by the metro escalators, there in the square with the overhanging trees of a park, there is construction all around. The buildings seem to be climbing into the darkness at this very moment. Leaving behind and moving forward. We seem to know everything already, our illusion of experience. I imagine taking your hand, I imagined taking your hand, and the lights in the subway flicker as we go deeper. Transit bookmarks each experience, every daydream, and in the end they’re interchangeable and indistinguishable between reality and imagination. Try to remember which is real.
To Hangzhou the maglev reached 303 km/h, the towering apartment buildings hunch under construction, passing by in blurs on the flat farmland landscape. I fell asleep, as you were dancing but to no music. The lilies on the lake nodded in the rain, dipping into the water. There was a Wal-Mart near the hotel where I won a pink bunny from a claw machine. I remember the beauty of the architecture of Hangzhou station, birds swirling around the pillars near the top, the echoes of the deep station interior, and the laughing at being lost. There at least we have each other, that memory, or that daydream.
Everything moves faster than we can control. Days are just flashes, moments are mixed up but burned on film, and all of the places and times are out of order. If it could only be us, only ours. If it was ours, if it was us. Sometimes everything goes faster than you can control and you can’t stop, much less understand where you are. I bought a dictionary and phrasebook, but “xièxie” was the only word I ever got to use.
– Will Long, January 2019
在出行前一個星期, 我買了中文字典和中文片語集。
上海到處都是下雨，不論白天還至是夜晚，雨在持續不斷的灰霧之下閃閃發光。我們參觀了外灘，關於未來的一切就像這種灰霧一樣渾濁。「現在抱緊我。」她說。抑或, 是我說過的話嗎？ 汽車的喇叭聲是刺穿街道的聲音；而每當我們經過茶飲店時，我們停下來。
站在這裡的地鐵自動扶梯，或站在被公園包圍的廣場，現在它們看起來歷久常新。 我喜歡那些古舊，但我亦對嶄新的抱感興趣。 像我這樣的人都認為自己已經知道那些虛幻的經驗。 我無法理解，我無法理解自己。 我們看似不同，但我們將始終如一。 我現在想像牽著你的手，也曾想像過我牽著你的手。隨著我們走得越來越深入, 地鐵裡的燈光就閃爍不斷 。如果這些景象只能跟內裡的洞穴感配搭起來，那我就知道它不能持久，它是不能持久，是不能持久…
抽煙的男人們在街上跟我們擦身而過，而我拍了幾張一包包香煙散留於地上的照片。 這就好像我們到處尋找一家沒有服務員將頭倒在桌面上睡覺的餐廳。 我們只是在下雨的城市漫步迷失，還是只是在性愛當中感到茫然？ 樹木低垂在湖面上，它們在雨中哭泣。 但是我仍然可以在臉上感覺到雨中的薄霧，感覺到我們在雨傘外面手牽手，雙手依然保持濕潤。 所有這些瞬間中，即使你不在我身邊，但你常在我的腦海之中。 究竟, 幻像與現實之間的區別在哪裡？
杭州的磁懸浮列車的時速達到每小時303公里，它經過閃亮潮濕的跨省公路和高樓，在平坦的農田景觀中迷糊的流淌著。 你身在遙遠之地，但你如就在我身旁。 一切都比我們所能控制的走得更快。 那些日子就像是閃爍的光，那些不同的時刻混雜在一起, 但它們最終卻烙印在菲林之上; 而我們曾經擁用的地方和時間都已經失序, 已不合時宜。 如果這些只屬於我們，那就只屬於我們。 假設它曾經是屬於我們，假設它曾經是我們。 有時候一切都比你能控制的要快，你不能停下來，更不用說你能否了解你所在之處。
– translation by Edwin Lo
Package description:
Xièxie is available as a 2LP edition of 300 copies, 150 silver and 150 black, a 2CD, 6 panel package edition of 500 copies, and a 2CS oversized slipcase edition of 150 copies. Mastered by Stephan Mathieu.