Wuhan emo torchbearers Chinese Football close out their game-themed trilogy with their strongest, most cohesive and sprawling album yet.
Ambitious in both its melodic subversion of Chinese pop and its embrace of emo rock’s instrumental playfulness, “Win & Lose” LP takes the best parts of the country’s budding indie pop scene and injects genuine pathos within its twinkle.
It’s essentially hard-wired to elicit an emotional reaction out of its listeners – which in another band’s hands might come off as shameless – but in the instrumentally swift and deft hands of Chinese Football, it earns its poignant power chorus each and every time.
Already a contender for 2023’s album of the year.
Stream “Win & Lose” LP on Bandcamp and Spotify.
*
