Vancouver-based composer and singer-songwriter James Tseung says that his new conceptual album, Empty Room, feels like a document of his life from 2019 to 2022. During those years, the Hong Kong-born musician was an international student adapting to Canadian culture while living in residence at Trinity Western University in Langley.
In his second year as a music student, he was still figuring out what he would do for a career—and how he would spend his summer—when the pandemic struck.
“Because of COVID, I was stuck on campus and staying in the same apartment,” Tseung recalls in a Zoom interview with Pancouver. “And the whole campus was [mostly] empty. So that was quite an experience.”
The lyrics in the title track on Empty Room reflect his mindset at the time. In this soulful R&B composition, Tseung writes about brushing his teeth without light and hearing foreign syllables filling the room after turning on the radio.
“I′m in an empty room where boxes come and go / Sit and watch everything evolves that I can’t control / I′m in an empty room where time is moving slow / Is it for better or for worse well I don’t know…”
Yet in the midst of despair, Tseung experiences a spiritual encounter, offering hope that everything will be all right. He tells Pancouver that in the dark, it actually felt like his campus apartment was reacting to his emotions. This room where he composed music became almost like a stage.
“You can only have these things happen once the room is empty,” Tseung says. “If your room is full of things, then there’s not much possibility.”
Tseung also enjoys talking about other tracks on Empty Room. The moody yet bouncy “Static” reflects the cultural dissonance he felt when other guys in his dorm spoke about random activities, like camping. Tseung didn’t have anything to contribute.
“I come from Hong Kong—I never did camping,” he says. “I couldn’t really talk about it. And I was standing there holding my cup of tea, trying to be a part of it, but I just couldn’t.”
He became so frustrated that he ran into the music building on-campus and created the chorus for the song, which embodies a New Jack Swing vibe. Tseung brought on Hong Kong-born and Vancouver-based hip-hop artist handwash to provide vocals.
James Tseung posted this YouTube video of “Static”, recorded at hip-hop artist handwash’s home.
A third track, the upbeat and rhythmic “Car Accident (Chill Out)”, was inspired by a minor vehicle collision. He calls it the most fun song on which he has ever worked on. And it’s the culmination of what Tseung has been striving for as a composer ever since he played in a band as a teenager back in Hong Kong.
“I love R&B and soul,” Tseung says. “I like Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Earth Wind & Fire. But when I first started out, I didn’t have the knowledge or ability to do those things. So, it has really been a dream for me to make something like that.”
Tseung released Empty Room in August, more than four years after he dropped his last full-length album, Vagabond. In his media materials, Tseung reveals that the new album reflects his musical journey, with vintage and modern R&B and soul meeting jazz and blues.
He also includes some folk and acoustic influences, most notably in “Pebbles and the Rock”, which highlights the sadness of people drifting apart.
“I wrote it in 2020,” Tseung discloses. “I was in Langley and the music that people listened to was something like that: folkish and country kind of acoustic stuff.”
He performed some of the songs from Empty Room at Vancouver TAIWANfest on the Labour Day weekend. But he emphasizes that there is more to Empty Room than just the music. Tseung also built an interactive website with branding specialist Ray Choi, enabling visitors explore his campus apartment in a game-like setting. It opens with a painting of the darkened room by Vancouver artist Emily Lau.
“Every song has a chapter,” Tseung explains. “In the game, you get to know the story and the album.”
Follow James Tseung on Instagram @jamtea_. Listen to Empty Room on Spotify and find it on other social media channels through his Linktree page.
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