Nineteen years of age and Toronto (Canada) based Scott Zhang hit us up with “Nothing In Return”, his debut solo single with latest venture of his under the name Monsune. A snazzy, chilled, uplifting ballad about “waiting for your love interest to reciprocate your feelings and the frustrations” that might result in doing exactly that. He’s a self-made “touche-à-tout” producer and multi-instrumentalist that liked to find quirky samples and blend them together into compelling, heart-felt compositions. Sampling the liked of France’s favourite late singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Scott Zhang in real life manages to captivate, and render a happy-go-lucky number into one that turns out truly addictive after a few listens.
As Monsune points out about the single:
I chose these vocal takes specifically because they have a raw, organic quality to them that lends a feeling of spontaneity and vulnerability to the record. You may still be able to hear imperfections […] but the concept of the song is being vulnerable – being at the beck and call of a potential lover.
The video he also self-directed is also very well produced. It’s as if millennials have a brilliant skill set in everything they undertake these days… Not surprising given the amount they have to get through to even being considered getting a job. Scott layered a bunch of samples and recorded guitars, trumpets, synths, and vocals over them. You will love “Nothing In Return” as the perfect smile/commute/smile playlist you were thinking of putting together later on today. This track fits in pretty snuggly with Steve Monite’s classic 1984 afro-track “Only You”.
We posted it a few months back and the track spread like wildfire on the interwebs. To the point where Frank Ocean decided to cover it during one of his live concerts recently… But that sliding off track for this post. We totally recommend you download Monsune‘s debut single he got up for grabs on his Bandcamp profile and do make sure you follow his Youtube channel packed with breathtaking video cover of some of our favourite artists out there. Including a Sampha one we decidedly didn’t recover from as of yet. All video are posted below for posterity.
Follow Monsune on: Facebook | Soundcloud | Bandcamp | Instagram
Isn’t Monsune Gen Z, though? You mentioned that he’s Millennial.