Founded in Beijing in 2016, Default debuted as a quintessential shoegaze band, with founder Eric building walls of shimmering guitars around space fantasies and memories of his Xinjiang childhood. The group evolved with the addition of keyboardist Edine, whose ethereal vocals grace cuts like dream-pop duet “夏夜最后的浪漫” [“The Last Romance of Summer Night”] and indie-folk meditation “平原” [“The Plain”]. The acoustic guitars, lush strings and jazz inflections on tracks like “余烬” [“Embers”] from 2023 LP 共同的土地 [The Mutual Ground] bear witness to the band’s ongoing sonic journey.