Alex Zhang Hungtai

'Knave of Hearts' (album stream)

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Aug 30, 2016

While Alex Zhang Hungtai has been working as Last Lizard since the dissolving of his Dirty Beaches project in 2014, the artist's newest release is under his own name. A quiet collection of piano ambiance, the release is titled Knave of Hearts.

The release collects various recordings made between 2012 and 2015 while Hungtai was living in Europe, but also includes some recordings from his current home of Los Angeles. Early on, "Entrance (^) Departure" delivers a field recording of crowd chatter and the hum of machinery. The bulk of the collection, however, finds Hungtai working an electric piano, as on the three-song suite, "Crimée."

You'll find those tracks, as well as the busy, jazzy "Paris Means Nothing to Me Without You" and fireworks finale "Nina" down below.

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