by Wendy Morrill

“Ride the Night” hits hard with a wall of ringing guitars and swell of dreamy pop haze at the top of the July episode of _____ mood. Curious about the ‘five young dreamers’ from Hong Kong who created the song – and if they’ve got new music coming – I asked Hong Kong indie pop shoegazers Lucid Express ten quick questions. Here we go…

You’re from Hong Kong, is that right? What is the shoegaze scene in Hong Kong like? What is unique about it? 

Andy: Yes, we are from Hong Kong. The shoegaze scene in Hong Kong is also there. It seems that it has flourished in the past two or three years.

Your Bandcamp profile says you are ‘five young dreamers’ – what do you dream of? 

Wai: One of my biggest dreams is that someday maybe we can play an outdoor festival like on the big stage with a lot of audience. 

Andy: I hope to record the type of music that the five of us like together and give it to different audiences in the world.

Kim: I dream of traveling to more places with my bandmates/best friends; meeting new people; reunion with people we’ve met; and… I don’t know… maybe I dream of doing this as long as we can. 

Is shoegazing your full-time job or do you all have other work? 

Andy: Haha, interesting question. In terms of official work, each of us is engaged in different occupations, but shoegaze is the common hobby of the five of us in terms of music types, but we also have strong interests in different types of music. 

Samuel: I’m working with Wai in our own restaurant.

Kim: I would say the band is my main thing right now, but I also work as a music teacher. 

Your self-titled album was released in 2021 during the pandemic. I remember discovering the album then and being quite happy to hear it. How has the band become connected to the international shoegaze scene? Did that change during the pandemic?

Sky: Before the pandemic, we can eat and drink together. Wasting time with like-minded people from other bands when we travel. After the pandemic, there are only email, Messenger, sometimes Zoom Calls and also making remixes with other bands.

Kim: Sometimes I don’t know if we’re connected to the international shoegaze scene – it’s because I feel like the nature of our music is not only shoegaze, but quite mixed in terms of style. But we’re glad that people from the shoegaze community have noticed us! I doubt that the pandemic had affected us in that way, but it surely did affect our tour/performance plans – which was quite grim.

What’s been most important to growing your audience? 

Andy: I think the most important factor is to always remember to maintain your own characteristics and find new elements in your creation so that you can maintain your output.

Kim: Always be true to ourselves, especially musically. 

What has been most influential to your music? What are the most influential shoegaze bands or songs for you?

Andy: I think it should be due to the current living environment and people’s accumulated views and experiences on the world, which indirectly affect the means and methods of composing music.

Samuel: Whirr 

Sky: Souvlaki Space Station

Kim: Slowdive 

What is the biggest challenge being a female musician?

Kim: I feel like my bandmates see me as a guy rather than a female, lol, and honestly I haven’t come across any difficulties other than physically I couldn’t lift as much gear as the guys… I’m thankful. 

Name an up-and-coming band that you’d like everyone to know about. 

Sky: Blushing from Texas in the USA and Sunnbrella from London in the UK.

You look like a fashionable band – how would you describe your fashion style?

Sky: Thanks to our friend Daisy for being our fashion advisor/stylist (and our profile pic). With what I usually wear, I look like one of the crew members backstage all the time.

Kim: Thanks, haha, although I don’t think we’re fashionable, haha, I think we’re quite timid on clothes normally. I would describe us as “very casual” style…HAHAHA.

What is the strangest thing someone has said about your music? 

Andy: It may be that it feels a little hazy after listening to the instruments distributed around in the mix.

Kim: Someone asked if we were high when we wrote our songs, but we were not, haha, we were kind of, um, straight-edge in our music making process. 

According to the band, fans can soon look forward to more music from Lucid Express and hopefully a tour announcement – stay tuned! You can follow Lucid Express on Instagram and hit yourself with that wall of sound in the July episode of _____ mood.