GLORIOUS INDIE-FOLK!
Meet Singer/Songwriter Glory

---By Don Quan Translated by Annie Liu

Have you seen or heard Glory yet? She is a regular fixture in the Kaohsiung underground scene. Her past performances include numerous showcases at ATT and the Trimorphy show at Womb Bloc, not to mention countless shows and tours around the island and in her current hometown of Taichung.

Glory learned the guitar at 14, mostly because her older sister gave her the instrument to keep the younger one from bugging her all the time. Clearly she was enamored by this new hobby, and started writing her own songs around the age of 17. Her music was originally meant to be accompaniment to a novel that she was writing with a friend. However, some of the material is, in her words: "about boys I adored". Some of these songs are documented on her 6-song EP, fittingly titled "The Boy Who Lives Nearby The Overpass".

The EP also reveals her artistic talent. The album front, back, lyric sheets and liner notes are covered with her drawings, sketchings and cartoons. However, she claims she is not an artist. "I just like drawing." She may be modest about her artistic abilities, but her songs certainly confirm that she is a good musician, songwriter and decent guitarist. She regularly toggles between Chinese and English in her songs, and has great range in her voice. She has a neat vocal trick reminiscent of Joni Mitchell, where she makes the notes she sings jump up two octaves. Her live performances best demonstrate her skills as a musician, as she regularly plays relatively complex picking patterns on her guitar while singing, never missing a beat or note.

There are many more new songs that are in her live set, and hopefully will be released in a recorded format soon. She definitely has an ear for pleasing melodies, and composes subject matter that anyone can relate to. Currently she performs solo, but has not ruled out the possibility of collaborating with other musicians in a band context. Glory is very active in, and supportive of, the underground music scene in Taiwan. If you haven't seen her yet, you will definitely have many chances in the future to do it. So do it!

Glory's official site: http://kmm.idv.tw/glory/