Album embraces modern sound

Musician Xiao Jun, who composes, plays guitar and piano, released his latest album, Atypical Airship, with a nationwide tour which kicked off in Shanghai on April 30 and concluded in Beijing on Saturday.

On the last two shows of the tour, which took place at the Beijing Blue Note on Friday and Saturday, he performed with his band, including the drummer An Yu.

The new album, a long project of Xiao, started about four years ago. Atypical Airship features music dominated by instruments and a broader sense of modern sound.

Released by Blue Note Records, one of the labels of Universal Music Group's China division, Atypical Airship, featuring 10 original works by Xiao, blurs genre lines, especially blending jazz with rock, and breaks limitations of his musical identity.

"I had more time focusing on creating new music materials during the past few years and I had lots of ideas, which I wanted to present to the audience. I call the album 'airship' because I imagined that all my music ideas could be gathered together and stored in an airship. Because all my music ideas are very personal, abstract and surreal, I call them 'atypical'," says Xiao, who lives in Shanghai.