NAJA NAJA
aBOUT NAJA NAJA’S DEBUT EP
On Naja Naja’s titular debut, band members Gou Gou (bass/vocal) and Yuhao (guitar/vocal) fuse motorik rhythms, rough tones, and not-so-subtle melodies to depict memories that range from shadowy to vivid. Like schoolchildren peering into an illuminated crystal ball, seeing a vision of the bittersweet world for the first time, the duo explore wonder and terror alike, all with brutal fearlessness.
Naja Naja composed the tracks on their inaugural EP by volleying ideas back and forth as if in a non-competitive ping-pong match. Through this process, the duo created six songs that are jam-packed with melodies and textures layered atop sleek, danceable grooves. Synthesizers hover and ping while guitars float and flash, all anchored by steady, programmed beats. Best displayed on the evocative instrumental jam, “Sunset Shopping Center,” Naja Naja are adept at interweaving instrumentation that swells and radiates with melody.
About Naja Naja
Uninterested in any typical “rock band” approach, the Beijing-based Naja Naja, functions as a "self-play" game for it’s members, Yuhao and Gou Gou. The two came together in 2020 in Beijing, driven by a simple desire: to have fun. In the midst of each other's unrestricted expectations, these two, who have very different personalities, continue to discover and evolve into new versions of themselves. They are the fanciful minds that portray a hide-and-seek game with floating elephants and dogs; they are the lonely souls that travel in an infinite loop of wet tunnels; they are the patina of sunset backed by a metropolitan skyline.
photo by. joe Difazio
