Hong Kong indie darlings My Little Airport back, more spiritual and just as political

Hong Kong indie pop band My Little Airport have been working hard to put the finishing touches to their latest album, which will be launched at a series of gigs in Mong Kok starting on September 12.

Singer Nicole Au Kin-ying is keeping her lips firmly sealed about what fans can expect of the new album and insists it is band mate Lam Pang (better known as Ah P) who has done most of the work.

“Ah P did most of the songwriting , he’s the director and did the mixing. We are almost finished,” she says.

It’s been almost a year since the indie duo played five sold-out gigs at Kitec in Kowloon Bay. At the time Au expressed concern that five shows in a row – their longest run yet – might be too taxing, and this time around they’ve found a comfortable solution.

“I was quite nervous and felt some pressure [from the five shows]. So this year we have stuck a balance,” says Au.

My Little Airport’s first album in 2004 – The OK Thing to Do on Sunday Afternoon is to Toddle in the Zoo – was released on their own label, Harbour Records, with songs written in both English and Cantonese. Since then, the duo have struck a chord with many Hongkongers by commenting on the struggles of life in this city, from work pressure (such as the viral track Who Invented Work?) and political issues (Donald Tsang, Please Die) to unrequited love and the ubiquitous housing issue.

Over the years there have been fewer lyrics in English and the latest album is mostly in Cantonese – this little nugget, Au lets slip.

For the past few years she has been doing some spiritual practice and beginning in 2014 started studying the astrology-based “human design system”.