Sonicave, Post-Punk from Chengdu, China
The four-piece all-female post-punk band, Sonicave, from Chengdu, China, has dropped three singles for their new album, A Collection of Absurd Tales. Here is the most recent single, “Cab Driver Suicide.”
Cab Driver Suicide Single
Robert De Niro’s “Taxi Driver” left us with a sense of anger, emptiness, and absurdity that still permeates the recesses of society half a century on. Sonicave taps into these feelings and expounds on the film with their newest album. “Cab Driver Suicide” is a tribute to the film, and it is also Sonicave’s analysis of the spirit of the city in the new century. Qi Lin, the lead vocalist, excels at using movies and literary works as the foundation to extrapolate and diversify the lyrics out to fit her current frame of mind and the state of contemporary life. This ambiguous, sometimes sharp, and harsh approach to lyrics then combine with driving instrumentation to play a cold and alienated post-punk.
Together the vocals and music construct Sonicave’s unique take on the classic gloomy post-punk genre. “Cab Driver Suicide” shows us a more detailed and concrete “absurd” picture: day after day, the taxi driver greets the sunrise and dusk, tired Lonely, with a strange and dark story in his heart, what kind of ending will be waiting for him?
How Sonicave Got Started
Baozi and Qi Lin started listening to more guitar-driven rock music in middle school, while Cherry listened to mostly pop music and didn’t find rock and metal until she had reached college. At that time, Cherry was already learning how to play guitar.
Sonicave’s original drummer had been looking for musicians, so with Cherry and Qi Lin on vocals, that became the original lineup.
Lyrics
For Sonicave, lyrics are paramount. The lyrics are the core of Qi Lin’s expression of thoughts; she states that she needs this outlet. And for their work, the human voice is the most important part, so Qi Lin spends steadfast my time writing lyrics.
Pertaining to why the majority of the band’s lyrics are in English, Qi Lin states: “I remember listening to Rage Against the Machine, Marilyn Manson, Primus for a while in middle school. I also like Red Hot Chili Peppers. I also look up the meaning of words on the lyrics page of the CD and learn to sing.
In terms of the band and culture, I personally have more (influences) from abroad than at home. Therefore, personally speaking, I am more accustomed to expressing in English.”
Influences
Qi Lin, Cherry, and Baozi all agree that they listened to a lot of music from Europe, specifically the United Kingdom and the United States. Qi Lin pointed to Radiohead, Suede, and Pulp as influences; Cherry also points to The Cure.
Cab Driver Suicide Lyrics
Sonicave Logo
The logo concept abstracts the letters S and C from the shapes of caves and ears, inspired by Sonicave’s cold and dark goth temperament and the light and shadow texture of the cave in the name of Sonicave.
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