"Long Haul" is an endless ritual.
Illness clings, corrodes, spreads—
we resist, withdraw, and dance with it.
A nameless creature stirs quietly within,
playing out a script no life can escape.
Even those closest cannot help but fear, or weep...
Love becomes the cure,
companionship the record.
The diagnosis: Long Haul.
From "Broken Bodies" to "The Cure",
from collapse to rebirth—
these six songs speak of time and the body,
of being and of will.
We may be powerless before fate,
but the love we find along the way
can still change a life.
ᔓᔓᔓ
Bugs of Phonon’s third album, "Long Haul" (2025), is born from the raw experience of illness close to home—a quiet elegy to what time takes from us, etched into both body and memory.
Blending instrumental post-rock, electric organ, free jazz, strings, darkwave, experimental electronics, and whispered lullabies, the album conjures a soundscape like the last reel of a fading world—cinematic, fractured, and tenderly defiant.
"Long Haul" unfolds over six interconnected tracks, told through the shifting voices of patient, companion, illness, and fate.
It traces the animal desperation of onset, the ghostly side effects of healing, the suspended breath of near-death moments—and finally, the fragile calm of seeming recovery, shrouded in a collective fear: the unspoken "Long Haul" syndrome—where love survives, but never unscathed.
The album was composed by guitarists Chih-Ming Ko and Lu-Ming Lu, with arrangements by Bugs of Phonon and production by Lu-Ming Lu. Recorded at the renowned 112F Recording Studio in Taipei, the album marks a significant evolution in the band’s sound—more mature, boundary-pushing, and emotionally nuanced than previous works.
Enhancing melodic guitar lines and rhythmic complexity, the album integrates orchestral instrumentation and experimental electronic textures through unconventional arrangements. Each of the six tracks forms a distinct yet emotionally connected chapter, deliberately avoiding repetition and formula.
The opening track, "Broken Bodies", sets the tone with a grand, almost heroic soundscape. "Radiotherapy" follows with a dynamic pulse—swift, volatile, and unrelenting. "Side Effects" features South Korean poet and singer Lang Lee, whose haunting humming and spoken poetry—intertwining themes of life, death, and the folkloric figure of the fox—lend a spectral, feminine voice to the narrative.
The title track, "Long Haul", is visceral and unflinching, evoking the scent of blood and broken flesh through piercing violin lines. Yet, the electric organ and a poignant saxophone solo by Minyen Hsieh introduce a sense of yearning and fragile beauty. "One Blood" reflects a quiet introspection—a glimmer of light before the final chapter. The closing track, "The Cure", begins with warmth but descends into unease, leaving a resonant trace of fear and the haunting weight of a life half-lived.
Illness reshapes life—
and we are no longer who we once were.
What can music offer to those who suffer?
Perhaps only this: a passage through.
Only by walking its path can we begin to understand.
The album design, created by Sample Animal, mirrors this journey—
black paper holds the weight of silence,
while distorted cellular typography evokes hidden symptoms,
a quiet symbiosis between the body and what dwells within.
Behind every light, a shadow lingers.
Darkness can return without warning.
Only in the face of despair do we see that some changes cannot be undone.
Yet in the ruins, we may come to understand love—
and what it truly means to hold something dear.
