Calgary instrumental pop duo Ginger Beef share their self-titled debut album out now on all digital streaming platforms. Listen here.
To celebrate the album release, the duo is also premiering the video for their 2nd single ‘Dew’, which follows the release of first single ‘Hocus Pocus’. A glossy retro-influenced track, ‘Dew’ is full of breezy positive vibes and even features a few lyrics… in Mandarin.
“We grew up in the 80s/90s and wanted to make an unabashedly retro track to capture some fond feelings from those times,” says MSG (aka Warren Tse). “It’s easy to sing along to because the name of the song also conveniently doubles as the lyrics. And if you listen carefully, you might hear a coded message in there too.”
Like the beloved namesake dish, Ginger Beef is homegrown in Calgary but influenced by Asian flavours. Their origin story begins in 2021 when flutist Jiajia Li was asked to present a music video for the Camp Sled Island event in Calgary. She ended up collaborating with the veteran multi-instrumentalist / producer / Calgary Flames organist conveniently living under her roof (sheʼs married to MSG) to cook up ‘Flashback‘, an energetic track seasoned with anachronistic synths, slap bass, and traditional Chinese elements — and no singing. Unexpectedly, this one-off only whet the crowd’s appetite for more, and Ginger Beef was born.
So how do you resurrect a long-extinct genre like instrumental pop in 2023? Ginger Beefʼs answer is to splice together DNA from other genres. “Weʼre unabashedly pop, but being jazz adjacent gives us access to a much broader palette,” says MSG and cites acts like The Police and Steely Dan as examples of jazzers who slummed their way to mainstream success.
While MSG brings rock and jazz-adjacent sensibilities to the table, Li virtuosically fronts the project with breathtaking musical athleticism and beauty, courtesy of her extensive classical training (she has a master’s degree in flute performance), and digs deep into memories of growing up with musical parents in Beijing. The result of this musical partnership is instrumental music that refuses to fade into the background.
Ginger Beef’s self-titled debut album is available now on Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, and other digital retailers and streaming services worldwide. For more information, please visit gingerbeefband.com.
