Shanghai’s most unpredictable punk band is back with one of its strangest and most compelling creations yet. With their new video “Little Lan Lan,” Round Eye once again proves that no other group in the Asian underground sounds — or looks — quite like them.
Watch the video here:
Round Eye – Little Lan Lan
Known for blending punk chaos, surf rock, free jazz and absurdist performance, Round Eye has always existed somewhere between confrontation and satire. But “Little Lan Lan” takes a different direction: instead of pure noise and provocation, the band dives into something darker, older and unexpectedly emotional.
The video, directed by vocalist Chachy Englund, uses traditional Chinese shadow puppetry performed by the Tai’an Shadow Puppet Theatre — a form of storytelling that dates back centuries.
The result is mesmerizing.
Leather-cut silhouettes move through blood-red light while the song tells the story of betrayal, regret and emotional collapse. The contrast between raw punk energy and ancient theatrical tradition could have felt gimmicky in lesser hands. Instead, it feels strangely natural — almost inevitable.
That’s what makes Round Eye so important within contemporary underground culture in China: the band never treats Chinese traditions like decorative “exotic” elements. They use them as living material, something unstable, strange and fully contemporary.
Musically, “Little Lan Lan” is more direct than some of the band’s previous experimental work. Beneath the layers of theatrical imagery, the track itself is built around sharp guitars, nervous rhythms and a melancholic punk structure that recalls early art-punk and damaged garage rock.
But the emotional core of the song is what lingers.
The puppets transform a relatively simple narrative — a guilty lover haunted by his lies — into something ghostly and mythological. Traditional folk aesthetics collide with urban alienation. Ancient storytelling techniques suddenly feel perfectly suited to modern emotional collapse.
At a time when music videos increasingly feel optimized for algorithms and disposable scrolling, Round Eye delivers something genuinely memorable: a punk video rooted in craftsmanship, history and artistic risk.
And that’s exactly why the band remains one of the most fascinating acts in the Asian underground today.
And don’t forget this classic !
