Exploring Poetry x Music's Immersive New Album "All of Those Times"

Here at the Beijinger, we are always excited to share the goings on of local artists, and today we're diving into the latest project by Poetry x Music. Formed in 2018 by poet Anthony Tao and classical guitarist and composer Liane Halton, Poetry x Music is an experimental collaboration that explores ways to blend poetry and music in order to push both mediums beyond their traditional boundaries.

Their latest project, All of Those Times, is their third full album, following Here to Stay (2020) and The Last Tribe on Earth (2019). As with their previous work, All of Those Times combines Tao's poetry with Halton's original compositions for a deeply emotional collection. Exploring the full cycle of a relationship, it was shaped in part by the intensity of the Covid years, and the project moves through the full spectrum of human emotion, balancing dramatic tension with quieter moments of contemplation and beauty.

All of Those Times was recently performed at the 2025 Macau Literary Festival and has now been released as both an album and a physical book featuring artwork by Norwegian artist Johanna Søvik. We caught up with Tao and Halton to talk about collaboration, experimentation and the stories behind the project.

Firstly, why did you decide to release All of Those Times as a physical book as well as an album?
Halton: We spoke about this for a long time, as a practical matter, since we know that people no longer use CDs and probably don't have a tape player to play tapes. We even contemplated releasing this as a USB at one point. Eventually, we settled on a book with a QR code to download the music. Having a book certainly serves the medium of poetry the best, and the QR makes it easier for people to access the music.

Tao: We also wanted to showcase the artwork of our friend Johanna Søvik, who is a Norwegian mixed media and digital artist living here in Beijing. We've always loved the energy of her paintings and how they also seem to tell a story. She was gracious enough to let us use her work, which we incorporated as well into our album video. [You can see the English version on YouTube here or the Chinese version on Bilibili here.] 

Were these poems originally written with the intention of being performed by Poetry x Music, or did that idea develop later?
Halton: Anthony had some of these poems already sketched out, and some of these were developed and churned along the way, too, along with the music. The situation often starts with Anthony and me brainstorming, and we go through lots of his material, eventually latching onto and gravitating toward one that provides pathways or opportunities for further exploration and development. 

The opening track, "There Was a Time," was actually the final piece we worked on; in its current form and meaning, it was only revealed to us as we put it together. By that, I mean that our full artistic intention was realized only during the process of creation, working with poems and music simultaneously. 

Tao: "The Other Side" was special because it was purely collaborative, as in the poem and music sort of arose at the same time, both written in Kangding [in western Sichuan]. Music has a really wonderful way of shaping poems, since it is metered and requires you to think about how words fit into structure; not necessarily a structure that confines or binds, but one that creates these natural feedbacks and loops that play really well with themes of time and memory.

Why was it important to release a Chinese version of the book and album as well as the English version?
Halton: China lives and breathes through this work, through the stories and where we created it. A translation enables us to share these stories and reach wider audiences.

Tao: Liane and I have been working together since 2017, and from the beginning, we've said that we want to continue pushing this poetry and music experiment until it finds its limit. This is our latest attempt to challenge ourselves and maybe push the boundaries for what we can do. 

All of Those Times explores the full cycle of a relationship alongside broader ideas of human experience and "fully lived lives." You reference the idiom 喜怒哀樂 xǐ-nù-āi-lè (happiness, anger, sorrow and joy), for example. Why did you choose those themes as the focus of the project, and what is it about this idiom that particularly spoke to you?
Halton: This work was composed during Covid amid such uncertainty, where human relationships and the spectrum of human experience were in a sort of hyperfocus for everyone. I think on some level, we were channelling this, processing this, realizing that to be human is to face this spectrum head-on and to draw attention to and share these common experiences with others through art. 

Tao: This album takes inspiration from a lot of lived experience, and its final form is a distillation of the full gamut of emotional reactions to those experiences. I'm so impressed with the music in this regard, the sheer range of it, reflecting desperation and fury and longing, but also able to settle into moments of contemplation, understanding, and forgiveness.

How did your collaboration shape the final work?
Tao: Liane is simply the best. In addition to being a guitarist nonpareil, she is a sublime composer, which will be evident to all listeners — but listen closely to catch the subtleties, the inexpressible conveyed through notes and turns of phrase. We were extremely fortunate, in this album, to also have Ryan Etzcorn, Shawn Moore, and Stanley Moore, who lent us their brilliance on the drums, violin, and cello.

Halton: Anthony is a brilliant, creative partner. He is a wordsmith who processes words much like how I process notes — the answer is there, the poem is already written, the piece is set; our work is to problem-solve together until we find it. When we find the answer to the puzzle, we keep the outcome and move on to the next word/musical problem. Sometimes the answer is there, sometimes it takes weeks, months, years — we both have the patience and willingness to access this flow and work together. 

You performed the album at the 2025 Macau Literary Festival. What was that experience like?
Halton: It felt incredible to share our work in that setting — it was an old, beautiful theater in Macau called the Dom Pedro V Theatre. We had the chance to share our work in this stunning venue, with a professional setup and two very experienced, exceptional sound engineers, Pedro and Luis. We shared the stage with the Lisbon Poetry Orchestra, fellow musicians and poets who had found each other, so it was also nice to feel a sense of community in what we were doing.

Tao: That theater was one of the first Western-style theaters in East Asia when it was built in 1860. Just a marvel of a venue. It was interesting, because we're used to playing in bars and small livehouses, where there's a lot of background noise. In Macau, there was absolute silence; I could hear myself breathing. That was scary, but also ideal for poetry and music. And kudos to Mike Fox, who joined us on bass, since we didn't have Shawn and Stanley with us. 

Do you have a personal favorite poem or piece in the collection?
Tao: Honesty, I'm really proud of how different the six tracks are, which lets us approach each one with the unique attention it deserves. 

Halton: I find each piece so special and moving in some way or another. A whole story with its own rich imagery exists in every single piece for me.

For people discovering Poetry x Music for the first time, what do you hope they take away from the experience?
Halton: I hope that new listeners can explore the narratives we weave through the poetry and music simultaneously. Typically, in the poetry-and-music format, music plays a supporting role. However, Poetry x Music challenges this, and the two hold equal weight. I hope we can invite all listeners to hear the stories with the music enhancing them in detail, like watching a movie. 

Tao: Hopefully they'll be interested in more of what we do — poetryxmusic.com for past albums, videos, etc. I want to mention Nina Dillenz, who we've worked with since the beginning — she just released an amazing music video of our track "Summer 2020." [You can see the English version on YouTube here and the Chinese version on Bilibili here.] The collaborative nature of the Beijing creative community means there are endless possibilities in the future. 

Lastly, where can people purchase the book or album if they'd like to support the project? 
Tao: The easiest place to support us would be at poetryxmusic.bandcamp.com. For those in China, I'd be happy to send physical copies of the book — just get in touch via WeChat (anthonytao13) or email (anthonytao13@gmail.com). 

READ: Three Things for the Week Ahead in Beijing (May 25-31)

Images: courtesy of Poetry x Music