SXSW 2017 Memories

Since 2015, we have asked independent artists to share their favorite memories from their time at SXSW. In just a couple of years, this project has become one of our most popular features thanks to the growing interests of bands and singers from around the world. Forty-five artists participated in this year’s edition, including Linying.

In the past twelve months, Singapore-based singer-songwriter Linying has been riding a groundswell of support, which extends well beyond the confines of the city-state. From across Asia to Europe and North America, music lovers have fallen for her soft, delicate vocals and breathtaking, cinematic soundscapes. There is an Enya quality to her style, but she has achieved this all within the confines of her bedroom or her parents’ living room. Now signed with Nettwerk Music Group, she could go bigger and more dramatic. Fortunately, she’s kept things simple in order to retain the bedroom intimacy of her original recordings.

So years ago, as a teenager, before I’d even recorded my first crappy home demos, I saw a video of Run River North (then called Monsters Calling Home) performing one of their own songs inside a car. I decided at that point they were my new favourite folk band. I found them on Facebook and left a post on their page saying that if I were a record label, I’d snap them up immediately. They replied, “The good people at Nettwerk Music Group just did!”

This is a photo of me moments before meeting them for the first time, and now as a fellow Nettwerk artist. It was some pretty cute, full-circle shit. When I met the band, Joseph Chun (the bassist) immediately said to me, “We’ve heard so much about you!” All the way after, I have wondered if that low-key meant that they knew who I was because of all the Twitter and Facebook stalking I’d done over the years!