Snapline is a band based in Beijing, consisting of Li Qing on guitar and keyboards and Li Weisi on bass, who met while at students the Beijing Institute of Technology. Their music was dedicated to working out in a contemporary Beijing context the sounds and ideas produced by the noise and minimalist musicians of the 1970s and 1980s, especially focusing on the New York scene of that period. Wanting also explore the dark, industrial music coming out of England during that period, especially from bands like Joy Division and the Cure, the two created a side project, which performed strange, drum-machine-driven music over dark, minor chords. Chen Xi, on vocals and drum machine, bought a softer, more fluid sound to the band with his delicate and slightly otherworldly singing.