Live Review: Mun Sing

By Rosie Burgess | December 9, 2023

Words by Binki Elsbury

A support act rarely feels like it should have been included in a double bill, but Bristol-based artist and one-half of Giant Swan Mun Sing, fresh off the release of June’s Inflatable Gravestone, was an instant crowd-pleaser. Strange Brew was already buzzing in anticipation for Lorraine James, made evident by the near-full house that her name had already drawn in, when Sing casually graced the stage. 

Sing plunged straight into their set, creating quite an understated soundscape that forced me to consider the pace of my own breath. The crowd then took tentative steps towards him, enthralled by his animated and dramatic stage presence, letting me know that the set was just as much of a performance art piece as a showcase of his sonic chops. 

With the crowd’s attention, he toyed with live natural sounds, such as a deflating balloon and pulsating lights that weaved in and out of Sing’s mix of trap-style 808s and danceable clanging rhythms. I wasn’t sure if I was in the club or at Tate Modern, but I loved it. 

I was hypnotised by Sing’s choices of samples, trying to work out if I had just heard a helicopter flying right overhead. I found it hard to concentrate on Lorraine James’s set after an emotional introduction to the evening’s experimental electronic music. I immediately dug through their work as I got home, searching for the state of deep listening that I had experienced that night at Strange Brew.