Ans M - Cicada Lullaby (2023)

Cicada Lullaby is the debut album by Ans M, journeying through spacial nostalgia, fragmented memories and folklore surrounding cicadas.

In Chinese symbolism cicadas are emblems of rebirth and immortality, with jade cicada amulets placed on the tongues of the dead during the Han dynasty.

Interspersed by grainy noise bursts and fluttering percussion, the album fluctuates between dissonant textures and ambient lullabies. Heavier tracks such as From Mountains to Debris and Hypogean draw reference to cicada nymphs living burrowed underground for years before emerging, shedding their skins then ascending to live on treetops. The album’s thick and dense sound palettes gradually disperse in later tracks, opening up to field recordings that evoke familiarity and prompt a listening to one’s environment. Following a cyclical course, closing track Cicada Lullaby II drifts away against voice notes of Ans M’s mother, recollecting childhood memories in rural South East China.