innisfallen：REALlusion

On a beach in the west under the suburb sky, a worn-out suitcase rushed ashore. Four lads opened it up, and found amongst the wet and mouldy things a record with two English words on the cover: innisfallen REALlusion.

They are the Hong Kong rock group innisfallen, the name that is pretty difficult to read and was adopted by Eric, who found the island in the middle of a lake in Ireland on the map; but he insists that they are not an Irish folk group. The four lads have different taste in music and bands, but are both under the influence of the waves of the 90s British guitar pop. They reside on the island, but still the colony is what they yearn for. They look cultured in appearance, but through music they show their ardour from the bottom of their hearts, narrating fragments of movie-like life between sober and fervent emotions. Eric, majoring in English Literature at college, makes lyrics poetic and sophisticated; with the knowledge in Cinematography, Sam and Cheong build up visual layers in the songs with their guitars and drums, along with the rational bass line of Lung, the Maths graduate, creating stylish and captivating Hong Kong English rock. They were in a three-piece line up in their debut gig in early 2005; their performance moved Sam a lot. Since then, they are like light and shadow. They made a change-of-life decision on a day in winter 2006 – joining Chisel My Records, and recording their debut album, which has been done after one-year hard work.

10 songs, 10 memories. In fading youth, they try hard to trace all the clues linking to the past, making soundtracks for the slideshow projected in the eyes. Shapeless illusions are; solid realities depicted fill every single track on the record. The suitcase, lost the other day, reappears in front of us today, on the land of mammonists.

大學時代認識鼓手何昌，當年FYP還好有他幫忙，要不然，我嘔多六次也拍不成。久沒聯絡，最近知道他的樂隊出碟，很替他們興奮。看到身邊的朋友為創作燃燒青春，心裡就有一種說不出的激動。三年，十首原創歌曲，超過20場show，看得出他們的努力和專注。無論任何形式的藝術創作，基本上都像打仗一樣，甚至可以說是「預左輸」來打，完全是不計成本，付出的不只是金錢，還有無限的心力和時間。出一隻大碟談何容易呢﹖我聽也沒聽過，二話不說便跑去Fringe Club捧他們的場，很驚喜，我是門外漢，但聽得出他們的用心，無論在歌詞和編曲上都很出色。現場氣氛不錯，雖然最初兩首因主音未完全開聲，有一點失色，但音樂本身已經很搶，第三首開始幾乎全場樂迷都被他們帶動了，我跟朋友們都high了，完全瘋狂尖叫。Good Show!!

有時，我也不明白創作為何會如此marginalised，不過也正因如此，才能顯出青春的可貴。

這是一場長期的抗戰，但願他們這場仗永遠打不完。


Albums can be purchased at:

Zoo Record
(ShopB31, Sino Centre, 582-592 NAthan Road, MongKok, Kolwoon)

YauMaTei Kubrick
(Shop H2, Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square St., YauMaTei, Kolwoon)

Record Rendezvous
(Star Hse, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kolwoon)
and more stores.

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