The band 2841 is a collaboration between two top-rated artists in the ambient vaporwave genre, t e l e p a t h テレパシー能力者 and Hong Kong Express. Together, they have produced three studio albums, some compilations, and extended plays. Their second album 新しい日の誕生, meaning Birth of a New Day in Japanese, was created to give listeners the experience of listening to music in the future.
One of the most distinctive features of the album is its use of samples, cleverly employed to mimic real-world sounds, effectively constructing a vivid and realistic portrayal of what the future might sound like. The ambient beats are interspersed with people speaking in the distance, storms, train and bus traffic, water flowing, and bug noises to create an immersive experience that transcends traditional musical boundaries. The album seamlessly blends ambient, vaporwave, and electronic elements to craft a sonic landscape that transports listeners into a futuristic world. 2814’s mastery in manipulating samples allows them to evoke a sense of nostalgia for a future that hasn’t arrived yet, painting a picture with sound that resonates with listeners on a profound and imaginative level. The result is an album that captivates its listeners with dreamy and ethereal melodies and serves as a sonic time machine, transporting audiences to an intricately crafted vision of a yet-to-be-realized tomorrow.
One of the only samples from preexisting media is the dialogue sample from the 2004 Hong Kong movie 2046, sampled twice in the album. The first track, 恢复 (Restore, in Chinese), samples dialogue from the beginning of the movie; you can hear a woman say in a hushed voice, “为什么我们不能像以前一样啊？你不要走今天晚上留下来陪我算我借的.” which translates to “Why can’t it be like it was before? Please don’t go. Stay with me tonight. Let me borrow you.” The movie itself is a romantic drama with a science fiction setting. This same line is sampled again but in a larger section in the second to last track テレパシー (Telepathy, in Japanese). This sample is modified to make it sound like the people talking are very nearby, creating a feeling of intimacy between the listener and the two speakers. The woman’s voice repeats the earlier sampled line “为什么我们不能像以前一样啊？你不要走今天晚上留下来陪我算我借的.” and a man responds “你仲記唔記得呀？ 你以前問過我，有咩我係唔借既. 我都諗左好耐呀宜家我先知.原來有啲野，我永遠都唔會借俾人.” which when translated from Cantonese means “Do you remember? You once asked me if there were anything I wouldn’t lend. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and now I know. There is one thing I’ll never lend to anyone.”
Scenes from 2046 by Wong Kar-wai
