Mong Tong’s latest release combines their folkloric sonic signature with a vivid reanimation of the timeless ghost story. It’s a murmur of an audiobook—one that seems to float through our headphones, transporting us to a landscape that is simultaneously intimate and surreal.
The catalyst for the project traces back to one of Mong Tong’s road trips. During the ride, the group decided to improvise a spooky round-robin story with friends who shared a fascination for the strange and unsettling. This foundational experience would later inspire the invitation of new friends to author their own tales, and soon, what had started as a writer’s circle on the road blossomed into physical gatherings and story shares held in the city of Taichung.
On “Bizarre Tales of Four Seasons”, we see Mong Tong’s travels in crystallized form. Across four tales (one for each season), four mysterious voices traverse the space between the mundane and the magical. Brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi fuse their atmospheric scores with eerily translucent narration, immersing listeners in a phantom world of paranormal fiction. The project also features an instrumental B-side—perfect for listeners who wish to suspend themselves further in Mong Tong’s fabled transcendental compositions.
When we asked Mong Tong about their next steps, they shared hopes for “Bizarre Tales of Four Seasons” to become a blueprint for sustainable cross-genre collaboration. At the heart of the audiobook, we find that Mong Tong reveals a delightfully eerie vision of the future—one where the urban legend is reborn as a powerful incubator for traditions to come.
Publisher: Chiching Records
Soundtrack composer: Mong Tong
Recording: Hom Yu, Liuzi
Cover design: Jiun Chi
Typeface Design: Zhao Shi Lang
Art direction and additions: Chen Yinn
supported by 6 fans who also own “<CC016> Bizarre Tales: Four Stories of Four Seasons 怪譚之四季故事”
At points, this reminds me of the bands that defined early chillwave, like Ducktails, Memory Tapes, or Predator Vision; the guitars are similarly reverb-y and chorus-drenched, chords splashing out lazily and slow, swaggers subverted into saunters. However, the Eastern melodic flavor gives this more of an overtly mystical aesthetic, and the instrumentation and compositional elements are far more exotic and interesting. Highly recommended. PannionSeer
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