Blue Blue Satellite
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | SELF
Music
Press
Sister Rachel, by Blue Blue Satellite (from The Learning Days): The vehicle for Ottawa musician Colin Wen-Jeng Chen, and it’s for fans of Ray LaMontagne, or perhaps David Gray. Easy, lyrical, a reliable pleaser of most crowds. One of three tracks on this list produced by Ottawa’s Dean Watson. - Ottawa Citizen
Colin Wen-Jeng Chen (a.k.a. Blue Blue Satellite) may be new to the Ottawa area, but he’s wasted no time dropping his debut LP The Learning Days, mixed, recorded and mastered by well-regarded local producers Dean Watson and Phillip Victor Bova. A classically trained violinist who later turned his attention to learning guitar, mandolin and percussion, Chen brings it all together on this pop outing. Melancholic at times, but also filled with a childlike innocence, Chen’s lyrics underpin rather disparate stylistic leanings. Everything from country vibing on Blues’ll Always Be the Blues to lo-fi electronics and honky tonk on Sister Rachel, Chen makes his musical knowledge and wide-ranging ability evident. Look for welcome vocal additions from Sara Melson and Kristine St. Pierre, but pretty much everything else is all Chen. Quite the one-man accomplishment is The Learning Days, though the sugary atmosphere and soft-focus thematics may irritate some listeners not impressed by the adult contemporary pop efforts. - Hour Community
Discography
"The Learning Days" LP - Released, April 2012
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Bio
Blue Blue Satellite is the stage name for Colin Wen-Jeng Chen, aka Wen: A 30-something first generation Canadian of Singaporean/Chinese ethnicity who writes and performs pretty, melancholy and pretty melancholy folk-pop songs while he accompanies himself on the acoustic guitar and perhaps his trusty friend, the loop pedal. Guided by the spirit of Nick Drake, Blue Blue Satellite carries on the tradition of the newer breed of singer/songwriters such as Damien Rice, Neil Halstead, Glen Hansard, Ray LaMontagne, KT Tunstall, Ron Sexmith, Craig Cardiff and the Tallest Man on Earth.
Within a few performances of his original songs at the well-known Free Times Café open stage in Toronto, Canada, Wen was invited to come back to play a full set for their Best of Open Stage showcase. Since then, he has progressed steadily as a musician and performer, consistently cycling through periods of writing, DIY recording, and playing booked shows at the Free Times Café, Cadillac Lounge, The Guvernment and Holy Joe's as well as open stages/mikes in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Los Angeles and New York City.
Joining the likes of Cat Power and Badly Drawn Boy, Wen chose to "brand" himself with a stage name. Rather than draw from some obscure reference, he delved into his creativity and invented the name Blue Blue Satellite. "Satellite" for the romantic idea of a silent observer floating through space, "Blue" for the colour of melancholy and "Blue" repeated for that poetic touch.
Having moved to Ottawa in late 2010, the newly monikered Blue Blue Satellite(BBS) plugged into a rich and inspirational music scene and decided that 10 years of bedside writing and amateur demo recordings on garage-sale worthy gear was enough. So in late 2011, BBS decided to record his first full length record. Recorded and mixed by Dean Watson at Gallery Studios, mixed by Phillip Victor Bova of Bova Sound and featuring special guests Sara Melson, Anders Drerup and Kristine St-Pierre, the Blue Blue Satellite debut record, “The Learning Days”, was pre-released to family and friends in February 2012 at a private Toronto show with an official launch in April 2012 in Ottawa.
Blue Blue Satellite is a classically trained violinist from age 8 and a self-taught guitarist, mandolinist and drummer. As a singer/songwriter since 2000, his influences include Neil Halstead of Mojave 3, Nick Drake, Damien Rice, The Swell Season, Sigur Rós, Guillemots, Delgados, Mazzy Star, Camera Obscura, Oasis, Travis and Coldplay.
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