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White began life one night in the winter of 2005 at Dos Kolegas, a small independently-minded club on the outskirts of Beijing. Shenggy and Shou Wang took to the stage only with the idea to break free of the song forms that had begun to constrict them in their regular bands, and to have some fun making music together. Working with a drum machine, an old analogue synth, a guitar, and a handful of pedals, they opened their improvisation by using the four-note Close Encounters theme as a jumping off point, and then proceeded to map a barbed and deeply psychedelic landscape that left the audience that night, including an exiled Blixa Bargeld, and indeed the duo themselves, completely floored.

Three years later – having recorded their debut album in Berlin with Bargeld in the producer's chair and toured Europe with Einstürzende Neubauten – and White is ready to reclaim their crown as the most important band yet to emerge from Beijing.

At 26, Shenggy is something of a veteran in the speed-of-light world of Beijing's underground. She spent seven years as the mainstay of combustible all-girl punkniks Hang On The Box, helping steer them from their Oi! roots to the multi-layered urbane glamour of 2006's Shanghai. Shou Wang, three years Shenggy's junior, is the leader of power-trio Carsick Cars, rising stars in their own right after performances at All Tomorrow's Parties and support slots with Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. As White, they have played with the likes of FM3, Elliott Sharp, Alvin Curran and Manuel Göttsching.