Over the Moons Yuhan Su

• 1 Pieces Peace 06:35
• 2 Tomorrow 05:58
• 3 Two Moons 10:03
• 4 Roaring Hours 06:13
• 5 Olfactory Memory 07:37
• 6 Genius and Dumb 06:45
• 7 Double Consciousness 07:53
• 8 Too Much Time Matching Clouds 07:50
• Total Runtime 58:54

Info for Over the Moons

OVER the MOONs, the fifth album from New York-based Taiwanese vibraphonist Yuhan Su. This extraordinary recording represents a bold new chapter in Su’s artistic evolution, presenting her most ambitious compositional vision to date through an expanded eight-piece ensemble that seamlessly blends acoustic improvisation with cutting-edge electronic processing.

The album emerges from Su’s profound exploration of dual consciousness—the experience of navigating two languages, cultures, and identities simultaneously. “I feel there are always two moons inside of my head and each of them draws its tide,” Su reflects. “I want to embrace this beautiful, chaotic feeling and explore the use of layers in music.” This deeply personal concept, crystallized during her transformative time at the Ucross Foundation Artist Residency in Wyoming in 2024, forms the foundation for her most conceptually resourceful work to date.

Unlike Su’s previous albums, which featured a more narrative focus, OVER the MOONs presents a broader creative canvas that plays with layering through soundscapes, counterpoint, color, and rhythmic complexity. The recording showcases Su’s distinctive approach to the vibraphone, with a pickup system connected to effects pedals that allow for distortion, pitch shifting, and bending—all of which expand the expressive range of her instrument.

The ensemble features an exceptional cast of musicians: Alex LoRe on alto saxophone and flute, Anna Webber on tenor saxophone and flute, Matt Mitchell on piano, Yingda Chen on guitar, Marty Kenney on acoustic and electric bass, James Paul Nadien on drums, and Shinya Lin on electronics. Lin’s self-developed sensor technology with Max/MSP enables real-time gesture control, adding a unique dimension to the group’s sound palette.

Su’s detailed orchestration creates remarkable textural diversity, with ensemble playing novel timbres where individual instruments often merge in unexpected ways. The music contains interesting juxtapositions of aesthetics, such as events that recall mid-century electroacoustic musique concrète transforming into open acoustic improvisation. The ensemble manages to adhere to Su’s compositional structures even in the densest improvisational moments.

Among the album’s most striking compositions is “Two Moons,” which opens with Su’s solo vibraphone enhanced by delay effects that create an ethereal, contemplative space. As Su describes it, “It’s a longer length message which delivers this image of two separate worlds eventually blending together into one.” The ensemble gradually emerges through subtle harmonic and melodic entrances, creating lush orchestral textures while maintaining an open, coloristic rhythmic approach. These layered musical events coalesce into a unified chorale, with all instrumentalists blending into a singular timbre that captures the album’s exploration of dual consciousness.

The album’s compositions also show Su’s playful engagement with bilingual wordplay and cultural intersection. “Pieces Peace” draws from a Mandarin idiom spoken during Lunar New Year, while “Genius and Dumb” features Su’s voice speaking in Mandarin, processed through electronics that fragment and interact with her vibraphone solos throughout the piece. “Roaring Hours” channels both the emotional intensity of New York life and the raw power of Wyoming’s winter storms into heavy rhythms and distorted vibraphone textures.

Collaborators praise Su’s artistic evolution on this project. Pianist Matt Mitchell notes the music represents “significant forward movement in her relentless quest for new sounds and approaches, Novel compositional forms, kaleidoscopic textures, high energy improvising, unusual balladry… Triumphantly idiosyncratic, as music should be” while tenor saxophonist Anna Webber describes it as “a super ambitious and cool new book of music” that pushes Su’s “compositional voice forward into new areas.” Alto saxophonist Alex LoRe, a longtime collaborator spanning eight years, reflects that the music “has made me a better musician in helping to bring her newest musical vision into focus.”

Su’s career trajectory continues its remarkable ascent. Recent winner of the “Best Instrumental Composer Award” at Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards and recipient of multiple Golden Indie Music Awards, she has been recognized by DownBeat Critics’ Poll as a 2024 and 2025 Rising Star nominee for vibraphone and named among the “Top 25 Best Vibraphonists in History” by U Discover Music. In 2025, she was selected as residency commission artist at The Jazz Gallery and as a member of the M3 (Mutual Mentorship of Musicians) cohort.

Her extensive performance history includes collaborations with Vijay Iyer, Amir ElSaffar’s Rivers of Sound, Greg Osby Sextet, Brian Krock’s Big Heart Machine, Miho Hazama’s M_Unit, and the Webber/Morris Big Band. DownBeat has praised her work as featuring “unpredictable compositions, the originality of her playing and the consistently stimulating interplay”, while All About Jazz noted the “sublime balance between the emotional and the cerebral” that “endows the work with its enchanting impressionism”.

OVER the MOONs stands as a rigorous exploration of identity, creativity, and the beautiful chaos of living between worlds. The music is conceived to highlight the ensemble’s evolved group playing rather than serving as a showcase for Su’s impressive individual skills, resulting in a cohesive artistic statement that captures the vibrant contradictions and conflicts of contemporary multicultural experience.

"...tightly composed, intricately arranged ... RIYL [recommended if you like] Zappa, Autechre, dark 70s prog" (The Wire)

Yuhan Su, vibraphone
Alex LoRe, alto saxophone, flute (tracks 3, 8)
Anna Webber, tenor saxophone, flute (tracks 3, 8)
Matt Mitchell, piano
Yingda Chen, guitar
Marty Kenney, double bass, electric bass
James Paul Nadien, drums
Shinya Lin, electronics (except tracks 4, 8)

Recorded at Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, NY (September 15th, 2024)
Engineered by Aaron Nevezie, Alex Conroy
Mixed by Aaron Nevezie
Mastering by Alex DeTurk
Produced by Yuhan Su

Yuhan Su
Recently nominated for the DownBeat Critics Poll in the category “Rising Star” of Vibraphone, New York based Taiwanese vibraphonist Yuhan Su has been living in the US since moving to Boston in 2008 to study at Berklee. Yuhan’s three records release as a leader including City Animals (2018, Sunnyside Record), A Room of One’s Own (2015, Inner Circle Music) and Flying Alone (2012, Inner Circle Music), have received widespread approval and numerous music awards and nominations, including ‘Best Jazz Album of the Year’, ‘Best New Artist’, ’ Best Jazz Single’, ‘Best Instrumentalist Award’ from the Golden Indie Music Award and ‘Best Performance Album of the year’, ’Best Composer Award’ from the Golden Melody Award in Taiwan, and “Best Release of the Year” by All about Jazz and Downbeat. Yuhan has led her project and toured around the world including Spain, Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Japan, Taiwan, China, Singapore. Besides, she performed with different projects in New York including Brian Krock’s Big Heart Machine, Miho Hazama’s M_Unit, Kyle Saulnier’s Awakening Orchestra, Greg Osby's Sextet, Amir Elsaffar’s Rivers of Sounds, Jason Yeager’s Septet, and more. Yuhan is also a featured artist at Alternate Mode (MalletKat) and Resta Jay Percussions.

This album contains no booklet.