01 March 2024 - 0 Comments

Today, Ersha Island 二沙岛 proudly presents their highly anticipated debut EP, Back To Our Roots, marking a significant milestone for the indie-folk sibling duo. This beautiful EP serves as an audio and visual feast, exploring themes of identity, biracial upbringing, and the cultural bridge connecting Ersha Island 二沙岛 to Aotearoa and China.

Out today, the EP’s kaupapa involved working with an Asian-led team, produced by EDYONTHEBEAT (Edward Liu), and features artists Geoff Ong and Iris Zhang. Alongside the EP, a mini-documentary by Cadby Kong chronicles the duo’s journey during the creation of the work as they searched inward and gathered stories of other Asian New Zealanders who have inspired the EP.

Listen to Back To Our Roots Here

Elsewhere, singles like My Mother’s Mountains and My Father’s Sea 母亲的山，父亲的海 delve into the acceptance of their cultural journey, and the lead bilingual single Beijing 北京 strips things back to the bare essentials of piano, violin, voice, telling the story of their experience living in Beijing during 2012-2014. They studied full time as classical musicians at the Beijing Conservatory of Music, a dark and lonely time in their childhood that left a lasting impact on their lives, identities, and relationships.

The EP also comes with two music videos directed by Hong Kong-New Zealand director Daryl J. Wong with a primarily Pan-Asian crew.

In a genre-blurring blend of sounds, Ersha Island 二沙岛 invites listeners on an emotive voyage through their personal experiences, painting a vivid sonic landscape of the challenges and beauty of straddling two worlds.

On what their EP means for them, the siblings shared, “This EP is an exploration into our Chinese and mixed-race identity, a celebration of culture, and empowerment by heritage. Drawing inspiration from our 爷爷's (Grandfather) recorded stories and experimenting with Chinese traditional instruments, we've woven these elements into our contemporary sound.”

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