From left: Wing Chan, Jimmy Hedges and Step Ip.

VIRGIN VACATION

假日貞操 Virgin Vacation is an four piece instrumental band based in Hong Kong. Formed in 2018 by Step Ip, Wing Chan, Jimmy Hedges and Chan Chin Ho. 假日貞操 Virgin Vacation have been a unique force on the Hong Kong indie scene since their inception in 2018. Their instrumental music draws myriad sources from krautrock, film soundtracks, free jazz, electronica and brews them into a carefully crafted concoction of controlled chaos. They are known in Hong Kong for their collaborations with artists, filmmakers, and other musicians, and their experimental approach to creation. In 2021, their debut EP was released containing four tracks, including their signature track “Acid Rain”an insistent krautrock bassline combined with glitchy and heavily processed guitars and synthesizers over an acidic electronic beat, which showcases the band’s unique sound and distinctive blend of improvisation and electronic music.

n 2023, they collaborated with rapper Gold Mountain, folk musician singer-songwriter Tomii Chan, and the Romer String Quartet for two new singles:‘RED’and‘Forest’, named as the best Hong Kong track of the year by Music Overflow HK. Their debut full album“Dapple Patterns”released in May 2024 contains both singles as well as a wealth of new music.

“Virgin Vacation have a rhythmic tightness that underpins and solidifies the more abstruse improvisations that emerge through their weird mix of surf, krautrock, post-punk and ambience.”

- WIRE MAGAZINE / Neil Kulkarni

THEY embrace collaboration & collective outcomes that provoke a new possibility & imagination to their music

Virgin Vacation’s new album -“Dapple Patterns”is a voyage into the un- known, a bizarre dream. Ohni and Nanoha, Marduk and Humbaba, colour and myth. Dear travellers and dreamers, you may be driven to madness by the bass and distortion; you may get lost in the boundless synthesizers; you may find ultimate peace in the glockenspiel’s chimes. However, Dapple Pat- terns is not merely a journey, it is the dance of light and shadow, refracted ripples in shallow seawater, a catalyst for our endless imagination.

The journey starts with“Yellow Scissors”: a steamroller assault of distorted bass gives way to brass and synths that invoke rush-hour traffic.“Ghost”’s weird mix of cowboy music, free jazz and punk, is followed by the single

“RED” whose metal intensity morphs into driving motorik rhythms.

“Jupiter”is a journey into deep space; builds up in intensity until the track implodes in abject cosmic terror.“Dapple Pattern II”s rhythmic layers of mallet percussion and snarling analogue synths create sonic ripples to confuse and delight.“Forest”in its instrumental version turns our attention to the alternately delicate and savage interplay of the music towards“Dapple Pattern I”which brings the journey to a close.

The new album“Dapple Patterns”will be released on vinyl,CD&cassettes on 2nd April 2024 and available on all major streaming platformson 2nd May 2024.

GET THE NEW ALBUM "DAPPLE PATTERNS”