Short Reviews [Shueh-li Ong - 2024 - "MissOriented Metaphor"]

When I heard from Sheuh-li earlier this year she told me she had heard about me from a friend in the progrock scene that I was a reviewer, and would I be interested in her latest album? We swapped emails but I never asked her who the friend was, and it was only when I came to write the review that I realised I had come across her playing previously as she was a guest on the last (hopefully not final) album by 3rdegree, ‘Ones & Zeros - Volume 0’, so guess the friend is probably Robert Pashman. What interested me was the way that Sheuh-li says she is first and foremost a theremin player, providing additional instrumentation as well. She thinks of this album as a concerto, containing six movements of various sections with contrasting tempi, the appearance of motivic repetition and variation, and solo cadenzas. However, this is far removed from classical music as there is a high level of Oriental influences as well as progressive. It is not a solo work, as she has utilised the talents of Dean Parks, bassist Brian Mooney of the Mahavishnu Project, drummer Jake Siberon and bassist John Tuohy of prog-metal band Mile Marker Zero. Sheuh-li describes herself as Australian-born with Singapore roots, based in the USA, and of all those different cultural backgrounds it is Singapore which has had the most impact on the music (as a side note, it is an amazing place to visit if you have yet to go). There are times when this feels really traditional, but with a theremin as the lead, as she combines JRF, rock, classical, electronic, prog, pop and cultural influences to create something which is totally off the wall yet intriguing at the same time. It is rare for me to come across an album which is totally unlike anything else I have ever heard, as while I could mention Dennis Rea that is only because he is the only other Western artist I have ever come across who truly managed to fuse Chinese music with Western, and the use of theremin as the primary lead takes this to a whole new level. Due to my ears not being used to either the musical style or the instrument (the theremin is not exactly a widely played instrument, although Jim Parsons is somewhat adept and did play it himself in an episode of BBT), I have no idea whatsoever where this music is going to lead and consequently found myself quite enamoured in the way it developed. Available through Bandcamp or YouTube, this is an interesting album which is definitely pushing the progressive boundaries.