Singapore musician Yap Wei Chiang’s begins his musical journey

SINGAPORE — There was a time when the Singapore indie music scene was primarily made up of bands — and mostly rock bands — that were fronted by a singer-songwriter (for example, The Oddfellows with Patrick Chng and Humpback Oak with Leslie Low). The situation has changed in recent times, and there is now a new generation of Singapore indie singer-songwriters making a name for themselves as solo artistes, with the likes of Charlie Lim and Inch Chua leading the charge.

The success of these songwriters has also inspired others to strike out on their own. Take Yap Wei Chiang: The National University of Singapore student is in his early 20s and may be relatively unknown to the broader spectrum of Singaporeans. Yet, the launch of his debut EP, Love Of Another Kind, at the Esplanade Recital Studio was sold out a couple of days before the event (this without much fanfare or promotion). Although he found the experience of planning and the production aspects of the concert gruelling, Yap — who had a little help from his friends such as musicians Edwin Wee and JJ Ong (aka Falling Feathers and frontman of pop-punk outfit JJ And The Paperplanes) — said he was relieved that the effort paid off.

Despite his seemingly newbie status, Yap isn’t a greenhorn when it comes to churning out songs. “I started writing songs around 10 years ago. But back then, I never really saw myself as a ‘songwriter’,” Yap recalled. “I did it for the fun of it, and it seemed to come naturally enough. It wasn’t anything serious, but it was a start.”

When Yap was around 18 or 19, he felt his worldview expanding as he began to ask the “bigger questions” as a young man. He found himself penning his thoughts into song. “It was at this point that songwriting took a stronger hold of me. It became more a way of life, rather than something I ‘had to do’. I haven’t stopped writing since,” he said.

Yap said he learnt “many basic principles of songwriting” by listening to the music that Jon Foreman (the songwriter in rock band Switchfoot). “About how art must contain truth, how honesty is the marker of a good song, how songs give us the liberty to talk about anything — from God to girls,” said Yap.

Over time, he drew more inspiration from Gregg Alexander of New Radicals (for that classic pop feel), Dan Layus of Augustana (for the very distinct piano-guitar combo) and Damien Rice for simple-yet-incredibly raw and powerful emotional communication. Lyrically, he has referenced Gregory Alan Isakov for the allegorical style of his writing; which Yap found to be “incredibly beautiful and poetic”.

That said, Yap did not come charging out of the gates as a solo singer-songwriter. Before recording this EP, Yap spent time fronting and songwriting in an alternative-rock band called Chasing Daylight. But while that did not work out, it provided Yap with the catalyst to recognise his own identity as a singer-songwriter.

“A big part of me wanted to just get the songs out there. It did not make sense to have so much material that meant so much to me, but nobody else could hear. It’s not without its flaws, but I’m proud of the journey it represents,” he said.

Obviously, while this initial flush of success has been satisfying, Yap is thinking about developing his music further. “If there’s anything I’ve learnt from this past year, it’s that releasing music requires a deep sense of knowing who you are as an artiste — from your sound to your image to your concept. I’m going to try and figure some of these out before doing anything major. But, of course, I’ll still be playing and performing as much as I can.”

Yap Wei Chiang’s Love Of Another Kind EP is on sale at https://weichiang.bandcamp.com/