Taipei’s Mong Tong, brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi, operate at the crossroads of folklore, psychedelia, and electronic mysticism. Their 2019 full-length, A History of Brightness, glows with the strange aura of Taiwanese occult art, 1960s/1970s psych rock, and the vintage supernatural kitsch of 1980s media.
The title itself encodes their method: in Mandarin, “日” (sun/day) and “月” (moon/month) combine to form “明” (brightness). Mong Tong treats that brightness as a cipher, guiding listeners toward hidden histories and unspoken mysteries. They are archivists of superstition, turning imagery of temples, New Age symbols, and uncanny landscapes into sound collages that hover between dream and ritual.
Built from samples, guitar, bass, and keyboard elements, as well as Ableton manipulations, A History of Brightness resists easy genre categorization. It’s not quite a band, not quite electronic music – something like DJing reborn as a psychedelic duo with touches of video game music.
Hypnotic basslines loop under rippling percussion; spectral synths flicker like neon signs outside forgotten night markets; melodies drift as if overheard from the shadow side of Taiwan’s coast. At times it recalls the kosmische pulse of Can or Neu!, at others the eerie haunt of library music and Southeast Asian folk traditions.
What makes Mong Tong stand apart is their aesthetic universe. Videos nod to “Ancient Mars” and chakra mysticism, album designs arrive with handmade zines or even plans for QR-coded potted plants.
The music is inseparable from these visual riddles. Like their name—translated variously as “Eastern Dream,” “Dream Child,” or simply a place that may or may not exist—Mong Tong thrives in ambiguity.
A History of Brightness isn’t an album that demands center stage. The brothers describe it as suitable for “accompaniment,” such as nakasi bar bands. But that humility disguises its depth: this is a record that rewires attention, drawing listeners into a slow shimmer of repetition, atmosphere, and subtle revelation.
In a Taipei scene where acts like Prairie WWWW (which Hom Yu also plays in) explore similar intersections of tradition, technology, and environment, Mong Tong’s A History of Brightness stands as an occult psych document that feels both ancient and futuristic, folkloric and cybernetic.
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