▌// mü-nest, where our daily music nest //
mü-nest is an independent music label based in Malaysia that promotes electronic music. The label features talented musicians from various countries including Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, China, the United States, and Germany. The label's music has received rave recommendations and coverage on the media, including German's GROOVE magazine, Taiwan's popular independent music platform "Street Voice", Mixmag Asia, and has also been selected as the soundtrack for Apple's computer product advertisements in Japan. In 2020, mü-nest was invited to collaborate with the Golden Horse Film Festival and provided soundtracks for the festival trailer, the Golden Horse Award nominee promotional videos, and the behind-the-scenes footage of the Golden Horse Film Academy, further increasing their popularity in Taiwan.

During a music festival, the founder of mü-nest, Wei, had a conversation with members of the band "ARVAN" and came up with a new idea: to reinterpret ARVAN's music. This led to the launch of the "ARVAN's Rework" music project. The project focuses on Arvan's first album "We Don't All Have to Sleep," and mü-nest artists from Malaysia, including D & the Compass and Shuzhen, and Japanese artist Akitsugu Fukushima were each invited to choose one song from the album and explore the music in an unrestricted way based on their personal feelings towards the original work.

▌// ARVAN’s Rework Series - Work #1: Here/There (D & the Compass’ Translucent Rework) //
As the first instalment from the rework series, mü-nest, from its roster of artists, has asked Kuala Lumpur’s psychedelic electronic music wizard D & the Compass to start the ball rolling. In this latest venture, D & the Compass has added a dreamy downtempo sonic texture to one of ARVAN's hit tracks, "Here and There."

"I wanted to create something that is translucent," said D & the Compass.

After listening to the original track by ARVAN, D & the Compass was captivated by lead vocalist Aki's delicate voice and was inspired with many ideas. In this collaboration, Aki contributed light, delicate vocals to the rework, while D & the Compass added his introspective charm to the music, incorporating organic elements like a beautiful electric pianos and harp, and accompanying them with fragmented, rhythmic beats. The result is a new emotional interpretation of the original track, complete with the translucent downtempo aesthetic by D & the Compass. A truly wonderful feast for music lovers.

▌// Who is ARVAN //
Comprising of four talented musicians, lead vocalist Aki Huang, guitarist Gideon Alu8khan Chen, bassist Ken Chung, and drummer CY, ARVAN has been actively contributing to the Malaysia music scene for almost two decades.

Formed in December 2017, the band's music ranges from heavy metal to emotional ballads, creating an unrestricted atmosphere that is truly unique. Their songs delve into various aspects of human emotions and personalities, addressing social issues such as death, gender identity, group definitions, and challenging the system.

Since their formation, the powerful and distinctive ARVAN has been invited to perform at major music festivals both domestically and internationally, including Taiwan's Gongliao International Ocean Music Festival, Malaysia's City Roars Music Festival, Sky Music Festival, and the Urbanscapes Festival, where Icelandic band Sigur Rós has also graced the stage. In 2020, they were even awarded the "Best Band" award at the Malaysia AIM Chinese Music Awards.

▌// Who is D & the Compass //
D & the Compass is an electronic musician from Kuala Lumpur. He is also a member of the electronic duo FNGDY and the synth-pop band Diang Bang. As a lover and collector of medieval instruments, D & the Compass is particularly fond of 70s and 80s synthesizers and is skilled at using these vintage instruments to create beautiful and dreamy sounds that are seamlessly integrated with modern electronic music.

Inspired by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, D & the Compass's name actually comes from the mysterious short story "Death and the Compass." Over the years, D & the Compass has developed an improvisational mode of electronic music creation, with a focus on introversion and seeking intersections in seemingly discordant sounds.

In 2021, IDM producer D & the Compass released "To a Cat" from the "Music For Home" music series on Malaysia’s mü-nest label, receiving recognitions from various music media, including Mixmag Asia, the famous German electronic music magazine "GROOVE," and Taiwan's Blow Music, among others. "To a Cat" ingeniously uses simple beats and the rhythm of house music to create a flowing abstract painting-like experience for the listener.

The low-key and unprolific D & the Compass worked with another mü-nest label artist Dae Kim in 2022 to create a remix of "A Song for the Wounded," infusing the original ambient-pop with unexpected psychedelic power and layers of quiet elegance sound.

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搖滾與電氣的邂逅 • 東南亞獨立場景新氣息

當Hebe田馥甑名曲《Love》的創作人Aki黃淑惠 領軍的搖滾樂團 ARVAN阿爾梵，遇上曾與金馬影展合作過的馬來西亞獨立音樂廠牌mü-nest

▌[演出過海洋音樂祭的馬來西亞搖滾樂隊 - 阿爾梵］
ARVAN阿爾梵樂團由4位馬來西亞音樂人組成，主唱 Aki黃淑惠 ，吉他手Gideon Alu8khan Chen（阿陸八）、貝斯手Ken Chung，鼓手CY；他們都是活躍於音樂圈近20年的實力派音樂人。其中主唱Aki黃淑惠也是獨立創作歌手，曾創作的作品包括了Hebe田馥甑的《Love》，和楊丞琳的《過敏》。

阿爾梵於2017年12月成立，從重金屬、後搖到抒情，他們的音樂在無限的曲風中營造出了無拘束的氛圍。阿爾梵的作品專注探討人的情緒、人性的多面向，囊括了許多不同的社會課題，包括死亡、性別認同、群體定義、挑戰體制等等。

成軍后，音樂風格强烈的阿爾梵也獲邀參與了國内外各大音樂活動，包括了台灣的貢寮國際海洋音樂祭，馬來西亞的城市巨響音樂節、天空音樂節，以及冰島天團Sigur Rós也來演出過的Urbanscapes Festival。隨後，阿爾梵更在2020年馬來西亞AIM中文音樂頒獎典禮裏，榮獲《最佳樂團》大獎。

▌[阿爾梵 x mü-nest -「ARVAN’s Rework」的⾳樂企劃］
以標榜電⼦⾳樂為主的馬來西亞獨立音樂廠牌mü-nest，在2008年被台灣音樂品牌《節點音樂》引入台灣后，一路來都獲得台灣獨立樂迷們的喜愛。旗下廣納了來⾃馬⽇韓中美德等等多個國家優秀⾳樂⼈的mü-nest廠牌，其出版的音樂在台灣著名獨立音樂平台《Street Voice街聲》上屢獲推薦及報道，同時也被日本蘋果品牌選為其電腦產品廣告片的配樂。在2020年，mü-nest廠牌更獲邀與金馬影展合作，為影展的預告片、金馬獎入圍宣傳片、及金馬電影學院花絮片提供配樂，再次在台灣打開知名度。

而在⼀次的⾳樂節中，mü-nest社⻑ Wei 與阿爾梵樂團的成員閒聊，在交換⾳樂想法的當兒，靈機冒出⼀個新的想法：重新詮釋阿爾梵的⾳樂。於是便啟動了這項「ARVAN’s Rework」的⾳樂企劃。這項⾳樂企劃以阿爾梵⾸張專輯《我們不是都要沉睡》為主軸，mü-nest廠牌旗下藝⼈：來自馬來西亞的D & the Compass、Shuzhen和日本電影配樂家Akitsugu Fukushima (福島章嗣) 個別挑選專輯內的⼀⾸歌曲，以⾃⼰對原作的感覺，以不設限的⽅式為⾳樂進⾏⼀場探索。

在這⼀次的ARVAN’s Rework⾳樂策劃，mü-nest也精⼼挑選了⾺來西亞攝影師Frank Wong在⽇本拍攝的《Man and his World》系列中的作品，作為Rework系列中的影像主題。 Frank Wong的彩⾊組照，捕捉了⽇常靈巧，也屬於私語，展現了再詮釋的種種意味。

▌[「ARVAN’s Rework」第一彈 - 晶瑩剔透的Downtempo私語]
來⾃吉隆坡的電⼦迷幻藥師D & the Compass繼2022年為韓籍音樂⼈Dae Kim的《A Song for the Wounded》做了頗受好評的Remix後，再下⼀城與搖滾樂團阿爾梵合作，為他們的主打曲目之⼀《這裡那裡》鋪上⼀層夢幻的Downtempo電氣肌理。

「我是想要做⼀件晶瑩剔透的作品，」D & the Compass如此說。

D & the Compass聽了阿爾梵的原作後，被主唱Aki的細膩聲⾳所征服，由此於腦海浮現出許多想法。在這次的合作中，Aki為這個Rework編唱了輕巧的細碎吟唱，D & the Compass則延續他的內斂魅⼒，在⾳樂中加⼊原⾳元素，如美不勝收的電鋼琴與豎琴，並配以零敲碎打的有機性節奏，為原作注⼊了新的情感詮釋，完成了這首《這裡那裡 (D & the Compass’ Translucent Rework)》。這首作品，是⼀道美妙的⾳樂饗宴，更是代表了東南亞獨立音樂場景的一股新氣息。

▌[D & the Compass是誰?]
D & the Compass，來自馬來西亞吉隆坡的一名專業藥劑師，也是一名電子音樂人，更是電子雙人組瘋笛 (FNGDY) 和Synth Pop樂團電棒的主要成員。作為一位中古樂器的愛好者兼收藏家，D & the Compass特別種愛70年代和80年代的電子合成器 (Synthesizer)，並擅於利用這種舊式樂器做出美妙絕倫的夢幻之音，也巧妙的融入現代的電子樂肌理。

靈感來自阿根廷作家豪爾赫·路易斯·博爾赫斯，D & the Compass的名字實際上源自於神秘短篇小說《死亡和羅盤》(Death & the Compass)。多年來，D & the Compass已經掌握了一種即興的電子樂創作模式，而且其音樂特色以內斂為主，並在看似不和諧中試圖尋求交集之處。

在2021年，IDM派系電子藥師D & the Compass在mü-nest廠牌發布了「Music For Home」音樂系列的《To a Cat》後，收到各方音樂媒體的青睞，包括Mixmag Asia、德國著名電子音樂雜志《GROOVE》、台灣的吹音樂等等音樂媒體的點名推薦。《To a Cat》巧妙的運用簡約的節拍，以及浩室的律動，讓人聽了猶如欣賞一幅流動的抽象畫。

低調及不多產的D & the Compass，在邁入2022年的當兒，為廠牌夥伴Dae Kim操刀打造了《A Song for the Wounded》的混音作品，把原作ambient-pop的靜謐優雅，賦予了充滿層次和預想不到的迷幻力量。