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EP

"Five Elements"

Released on June 6th, 2026
"Five Elements", corresponding to Chinese philosophy, consists of Water, Fire, ​Metal, Wood, and Earth. Each music piece represents one element with its own elegant characteristics. In Chinese philosophy, everything is included in these five elements. These five elements generate each other, and also control each other. The EP provides a delight taste of nature, flow and meditation. 

♪ Mermaid
Element: Water

"You give all you have, living everyday as walking on the blade. But, you might not get the reward."
Guitar Solo

♪ Shimmer
Element: Fire

"How much can we change it?”
"Maybe we are only 'shimmering’, but dim light still cannot be neglected.”
Guitar Solo

♪ Spiegel
Element: Metal

"Spiegel" is the German word for "Mirror".
"Everything we see is not what it really is, but only the reflection of who we are."
​Ambience + Guitar

♪ ONE TOWN
Element: Wood

"One town was glorious;
One town will be the way home."
​Ambience + Vocal

♪ Eternity
Element: Earth

"Timeless, Spaceless"
Guitar Solo (steel-string)
All music and lyrics composed, performed, and produced by Yunjia Liu.
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Recording: Guido Scharmer
Audio Editing: Yunjia Liu
Mixing & Mastering: Arto Ruotsala
Illustrator: Yanbing Zhang

Copyright © 2026 Yunjia Liu. All rights reserved.
Music Story written by Yunjia

Mermaid
2018

​​        “Mermaid” was composed at the beginning of 2018. There are three main sections plus the Intro (little start) and the Coda (short end) in this piece:

Bubbles – First Glance – Destiny – Aria of Dissolving “last time singing” – Bubbles.

        The structure corresponds to the fairy tale The Little Mermaid by H. C. Andersen: The little mermaid lives in the sea and catches a fleeting glance of the handsome prince. She drinks a potion to transform herself into a human, but the sacrifice is losing her beautiful voice. The witch warns her that if she cannot win the prince's love, she will turn into bubbles and disappear with the sunrise after the prince marries someone else.

        While it is a sad story, it is also about giving everything – even life itself – to pursue a dream. The music for the third section, “Aria of Dissolving ‘last time singing’,” was the first part that came to my mind. It was created after I received the news that the German conservatory I had desperately wanted to study in, and had prepared for a whole year to get into, had stopped accepting master's students for that semester and the semester after. I was completely lost at the time, with no idea where to go. I felt as if I were singing my own aria for the very last time before disappearing from Germany entirely. Yet, looking back, that moment was actually the beginning of a transformation. The choice to give everything I had was a definitive act of determination, bringing the power back into my own hands.

        Ultimately, "Mermaid" connects to the element of “Water” because the sea itself acts as one of the main characters in this story.

Shimmer
2017


​​        Inspired by the style of tango, “Shimmer” was composed during a relatively dark period when self-doubt was overwhelming. I constantly questioned myself whether I was even qualified to be a professional guitarist. Music had always been a core belief of mine, but this doubt was a question mark pointing to the roots. The technical expectations from the conservative and competition perspective in Europe were very different from the education I received in Australia, and I had received a fair amount of negative feedback that my playing was simply not flawless enough.

        The subtitle of “Shimmer” is “How much can we change it?” I felt that I had tried so hard to change my playing habits, yet the results were still unsatisfying. I even began to doubt if a good result would ever come at all. The feeling was completely helpless.

        Luckily, a few months later, I met the teacher with whom I would study for my master's degree, who told me that my playing was very beautiful, musical, and lyrical, and that the only issue was a minor technical one. My confidence gradually began to return, and my wonderful music journey was able to continue. Because of this experience, I added a final sentence to the end of the piece: “Maybe we are only ‘shimmering’, but dim light still cannot be neglected.” With that, the theme was complete.

        Why does “Shimmer” represent the element of “Fire”? To me, a shimmer is like candlelight – it isn't radiantly bright, but it is lit by a dancing, jumping flame. This quality directly reflects some of the rhythmic patterns and accents found throughout the piece.

Spiegel
2016


​        "Spiegel" is the German word for "Mirror". This is a philosophical composition with the idea of "Everything we see is not what it really is, but only the reflection of who we are."

        This composition was inspired by the judgments I faced when I left my career as a doctor to pursue music. I was walking away from a stable life path for what many considered only a "hobby", commenting that "dreams" and "passion" barely mattered compared to the reality of making a living.        

        ​However, I realized that no matter what people say about me – especially the negative words – it does not define who I am. Instead, their judgment is merely an illusion, or a trigger in their own minds revealing who they are. With this in mind, it becomes much easier to handle the harsh comments.
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        The piece corresponds to the element "Metal” because of the metallic backing painted onto glass to create a mirror.

ONE TOWN
2016


        The reason I traveled so far from home to Australia to study guitar was to improve my technique, so that I could return to China and make better music with my band. But after four years of study, when I finally returned and reached out to the band members to play together again, things were completely different. They had all taken other jobs to make a living and rarely played music anymore. I realized that there is no going "back" – one can only move forward.

Lyrics in Chinese & English translation:
 
《一城》
"ONE TOWN"
 
从一城到一城
From one town to another 
将人镀上一层冰霜
One is plated with ice and frost
夏日轻舞
Summer dances light
冬日漫长
Winter lasts long

微风尽
Breeze ends
相守听那花落花开
Listen to the flowers blooming and falling
孤夜里
Lonely night
星流转
Stars flow

我带了磨利的剑归来
I come back with the sharpened sword
却不想
Only to find out
早已物是人非
Everything is different

记忆里
In memory
一城是绚烂
One town was glorious
期待中
In hope
一城是归路
One town will be the way home

一城是绚烂
One town was glorious
一城是归路
One town will be the way home
 
        ​I have moved quite often from one country to another: China, Australia, England, Germany… One town I long to return to was glorious, but it already belongs to the past. Hopefully that another town ahead will be the way home for me and for my musical journey.

        The piece corresponds to the element “Wood” because if I am like a tree, then this journey is the search for where my roots belong.

Eternity
2018


        "Eternity" is the only piece in this EP, which is played by a steel-string guitar. The tuning of the guitar EBEGAD is also different from the standard tuning EADGBE.

        The idea of the piece is "Can we achieve Eternity in music?” and the subtitle is "Timeless, Spaceless.” The hope is that music is everlasting, and it exists regardless of time and space.

        One interesting element of this piece is the open ending, which provides the opportunity to play this piece as a loop again and again, and again. This is also why it is called "Eternity”, because we as human only get to see very few planets in the whole universe, and we are only the audiences of a "blink” of the everlasting existence. Music is always there, coming into our awareness and then disappearing, simply because our lifespan and vision are so limited.

        ​The piece corresponds to the element "Earth”, because lives come from the earth, and then they are dead and turned back to the earth. The Earth represents the everlasting.