Lingering melodies

Liang Xiaoxue wanted to create more space for the imagination with his instrumental album

About 10 years ago, Beijing-based singer-songwriter Liang Xiaoxue started releasing his original material via douban.com, a popular Chinese social media platform, and he can still vividly recall how thrilled he was when he saw his songs were being played up to 4,000 times the first night.

"I didn't sleep at all that night. I couldn't help staring at the website. It's unbelievable that so many people listened to my songs and many of them posted reviews," Liang recalled recently, sitting by his keyboard at his home in Beijing. "Music is a private thing for me. When my personal emotions are shared by many people I've never met, it's an amazing experience."