I have to say, the fact that I’m composing all of the beats on American Expatriate in their entirety has really opened up some possibilities in terms of songwriting. In the past, my beats were always arranged around the sample. The sample determined everything: the mood, the tempo, what could and could not be added, and the more samples I added the more constricted I became in terms of what I could do with a beat.

Now I’m finding that composing my own beats (and having the resources to still have them sound good) is allowing me to make more dramatic changes in my instrumentals, as well as add tons of little extra tweaks to complement the lyrical content. For example, a programmed sounding synth-beat can suddenly break into wide-open, clear-blue-sky piano chords for a moment of lyrical epiphany, and then sink subtly back into the synths. Or whatever, that’s just an example and it will be up to you to decide whether any of this stuff actually works when the album’s finished anyway, but the point is, it’s possible.

I haven’t been doing much writing, but I’m not particularly concerned. I have three songs more or less completely done at this point, a good plan for a fourth, and I’m sure more will come. I still haven’t constructed a solid plot outline for it yet, but I’m thinking that may come after most of the songs are written and it’s just a matter of arranging them properly. The main character and his rather peculiar issue is established and evident in more or less everything so far. I’m not going to tell you anything about that yet, though.

First of all, the good folks over at Veggie Co Records have finally had a go at my Myspace page, which was long in need of an overhaul. I’m still not going to update it much because I hate Myspace, but at least it looks less boring.

I have finished a draft of the first song of American Expatriate, “Arriving”. It’s got a skeleton instrumental and complete lyrics, although I haven’t revised them yet. It describes the narrator’s first moments arriving in China, first while he’s looking out the plane and then later when he’s lugging his luggage up the eight flights of stairs to his apartment. It’s got a chorus that is meant to be sung, so prepare yourselves now: I’ll be singing again on this album. (Don’t worry though, I’ll be getting some knowledgeable help before I record it).

I’ve decided on a writing style for the album that’s heavily influenced by my recent experience writing some short fiction (and reading it). Although the overarching plot of the album isn’t exactly crystallized yet, don’t expect there to be a lot of dialogue. This song, and those that follow it, get the point across largely through a description of the environment, filtered (of course) through the narrator’s somewhat distorted perspective.

Why am I choosing to write it this way? For one, I find it much more interesting than conveying feelings with dialogue. A song already is dialogue in a sense; I can use tone and emotion in the delivery and convey information without having to have the character talk to people. Secondly, it fits one of the overarching themes of the album, which is isolation. This is not to say that the narrator won’t interact with other people–quite the contrary–but my concern is primarily what’s going on inside his head. What happens outside is really only important in that it affects his mind state. Finally, it allows me to paint a visual picture and convey information about the narrator at the same time. Since urban China is an interesting setting, and one that many listeners won’t be familiar with, the more detail I can cram into the songs, the clearer a picture of the setting they are going to get. At the same time, by filtering that detail through the narrator’s language, the listener learns something about him, too. It’s the proverbial two birds-one stone thing.

I’ve also been wanting to bring magical realism into some of my music for a while now, being a fan of authors like Borges, so expect a good bit of that, too. Nothing too crazy, though. I think you’ll like it.

Musically, I’ve got around 40 skeleton instrumentals, of which 3 or 4 might end up on the album, if that. I’m still learning my way around the new Reason, and developing my composition skills. It’s really too early to say anything for sure, but expect real-life drums and stripped-down piano chord melodies mixed with some distortion and occasional electronic intrusions.

WELCOME TO THE NEW SUN ZOO SITE, AMERICAN EXPATRIATE. Now, what the hell is that?

What is American Expatriate?
American Expatriate is a multimedia project created by rapper/producer Sun Zoo that explores the experiences of an American Expat living in China. This blog, through text and video, chronicles Sun Zoo’s travels and experiences in China, as well as tracks his progress in creating the full-length hip-hop concept album that is to be the final product of this project.

The album American Expatriate will be a fictional account of the experiences of an expat living in China. It will explore a variety of issues from the personal to the political, and will be composed in its entirety–from writing to music–by Sun Zoo alone.

The blog and video entries are meant as supplemental offerings that will complement and enhance listeners’ understanding of the album but are in no means required for its enjoyment. Unlike the album, many blog entires will not be fictional, but rather biographical–Sun Zoo really is an English teacher living in China, and his experiences there will be recorded in this blog. There may also be some short fiction pieces posted as well; these will be noted as such.

As an aspiring (if untrained and unskilled) videographer, Sun Zoo will also attempt to capture expatriate life in China through the lens in a variety of ways, including short musical vignettes, interviews with Chinese citizens and Western expats alike about music, love, and life in the 5000-year-old Middle Kingdom.

Why this topic?
As a student of Chinese language, philosophy, and history, aspects of Sun Zoo’s academic life have always crept into his music (the very name itself was originally derived from the famous martial philosopher 孙子). After graduating from Brown University in the spring of 2008, Sun Zoo took a job teaching English in Harbin, China. Having always wanted to write a concept album anyway, this seemed the perfect opportunity to merge his passion for Chinese language and culture with his passion for creating original, creative hip-hop music. Sun Zoo is also an amateur writer and videographer, and so decided to introduce blogging and short video production to create a multimedia project that builds on itself until the eventual release of the album American Expatriate.

His hope is that this project will give fans, friends, and family reasons to keep coming back to this site as the album is being created. Those interested purely in the music are free to ignore it, but anyone wishing for a deeper immersion in the material should hopefully find some satisfaction here.

What else is Sun Zoo working on?
In addition to American Expatriate, Sun Zoo is working on the following music projects:

Untitled Solo Project - Coming TBA 2009: A full-length regular album that will be available for free on sun-zoo.com, ideally released around the same time as American Expatriate.

Untitled Project with Sarah Clark - Coming TBA: A full-length album with singer/songwriter Sarah Clark. Details on when it will be released, what label it will be released on, and how it will be available all TBA.

How can I find out more?
If you have any questions, from press inquiries to random ponderings, please address them directly to Sun Zoo at sunzoo@sun-zoo.com.

As Sun Zoo currently resides in China, we regret that Sun Zoo is not generally available for US bookings at this time. For inquiries of that nature, please contact Veggie Co Records representative Eric Jainchill. For booking inquiries in mainland China, please contact Sun Zoo directly.