| We Play! Records | 2007

Over a foul line​,​Simple questions – ChoP vol.1 (Zen Lu & Grzegorz Bojanek)
1. Incurable Tradition
2. Transparent Thoughts
3. Prowl at Midnight
4. Why not?
All tracks composed by Zen Lu & Grzegorz Bojanek
Mastered by Dickson Dee @Dicksonia Studio
Designed by Hei Lee @Altscape Creative

this album Over a Foul Line: Simple Questions is like a private letter written with electronic sound waves. Amidst the interweaving of microsound and ambient music, it outlines an auditory journey about “boundaries” and “inquiry”. The entire album abandons the strong rhythmic impact commonly seen in electronic music; instead, it takes delicate sound textures as the foundation, allowing every melody and every layer of sound effect to fade in slowly like thin mist, constructing a sound field with a strong sense of breath.

The opening track starts with faint environmental samples, mixed with faint electronic pulses, as if it is an “entry signal” from the real world to the illusory auditory space. Later, in works such as Simple Questions, the fragmented sounds of Microsound style and the long synth tones are intertwined. Those processed natural sounds—maybe the wind, maybe the distant mechanical sounds—are broken down into the smallest sound units, and then reassembled into an auditory picture full of a sense of the unknown. Just as its name suggests, it hides a delicate observation of the world in the “simple questions”.

The most touching part of the album lies in its precise control of the “balance between movement and stillness”. Even in tracks like Over a Foul Line that have a slight rhythmic beat, the drumbeats always maintain a restrained intensity, steady like a heartbeat, forming a wonderful dialogue with the floating melody lines. It not only avoids the dullness that ambient music may fall into, but also does not destroy the overall quiet philosophical atmosphere. This kind of “blank space” in sound allows the audience to fall into contemplation in the gaps between melodies, as if wandering “over the line” with the music, thinking about the “questions” that are left unsaid.

Overall, this album is not for the pursuit of auditory stimulation, but uses electronic music as a medium to build a channel connecting the senses and the spirit. It is like a journey with no end; every time you listen to it, you can discover new details in the subtle sound changes, allowing the “simple questions” to ferment continuously in the flowing melody, making it an immersive electronic masterpiece worth savoring repeatedly.