Re-TROS Announce Debut UK Album

Re-TROS are bidding to be the first Chinese band to go global.  Heroes of the Chinese underground rock scene, Beijing-based ‘Rebuilding the Rights of Statues’ release their genre-spanning post-punk inspired album Before The Applause on September 15th on Modern Sky UK. While extolling the virtues of classic indie rock icons Joy Division, Bauhaus and more, Re-TROS enthuse about Battles, Liars and TV On The Radio on their new album, which crosses the bridge from art school punk into pumping techno clubland and back again, over nine mature and exquisitely constructed tracks.

The Fugazi-influenced machine gun drums, crunching heavy metal guitar and spacey, Eno-esque synth washes that meld wonderfully on the nine-minute ‘Hailing Drums’, the first full-length song on the album, provide a fitting introduction to fresh Re-TROS territory on the new LP.  The song, along with the albums other epics ‘8 + 2 + 8 II’ and ‘At Mosp Here’ have already been road tested in China and the UK, proving particularly hypnotic live favourites.

The exact birthdate of the much blogged about ‘China rock explosion’ that took place in the noughties is subject to debate. A spark of promising indie types buzzing around the toilet circuits of Beijing has caught flame and flickered to varying degrees of intensity since.   Out of this scene Beijing-based Re-TROS, always felt like the most likely to shove the boundaries forward.  10 years later, they’re ready to go global with a record that’s more eclectic and transcendent than anything the scene has produced to date.

Signed to label Modern Sky from the outset, Re-TROS grew to become one of Asia’s leading alternative bands just as Modern Sky became China’s biggest independent label, festival organiser and now global music company.  In 2017, eight years on, Liu Min, Hua Dong and Huang Jin have spurned their post-punk past and created Before the Applause.  Produced by Hector Castillo (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Bjork, Phillip Glass), their new album fizzles with experimental vigour, electronica and ambitious scale, while still maintaining the irreplaceable Re-TROS grasp of earworm melody.