In the track Mountain Blossoms, the ceramic flute solo is performed on a handmade flute designed and crafted entirely by Jackson Yee. Though no official photos of this ‘vertically held flute patterned with three intertwined hands’ have been released, its full backstory was detailed in an in-depth feature interview.
on Ceramic Flute, translation from interview on T magazine - Jul 2025
On other nights, he devoted himself to crafting flutes, calculating the proportional dimensions of tone holes and testing musical scales. Yet the drilling often ended in breakage; over ten blanks have been discarded. Every failed piece frustrated him, and as a form of self-punishment—or perhaps reward—he opened a pack of spicy gluten snacks. “A little junk food might help me put some weight back on.” Beyond flutes, he intendedbutton 12 2 to make panpipes and clay whistles, all his personal ‘sound masks‘.
Unlike acting, which projects outward, music is an inward journey for him, ‘a path closer to his true self’. Having learned the cucurbit flute in childhood, he has long been fascinated by wind instruments. Upon first hearing the demo of Mountain Blossoms, he zeroed in on its flute melody. Around that time, he was reading about sonic art installations featuring earthen wind instruments shaped like human and beast masks that mimic natural or human sounds, known culturally as ‘sound masks’. Captivated by the concept, he resolved to craft one of his own for the track. After daily filming wraps, he learned ceramic flute making via tutorial videos at his accommodation. Planning an oversized half-body flute, he referenced existing instruments to calibrate hole spacing before drilling bit by bit. He left the filming location with three finished pieces, much like Andy escaping prison after years of tunnelling in The Shawshank Redemption.
Two crack in the kiln, leaving only one intact, yet its tone came out raspy when played. ‘I was devastated and consulted a craftsman,’ he recalled. Following expert advice, he regrinded every hole with an electric drill; the flute played briefly after rinsing but goes dull once dried, with slight tuning inconsistencies. He and producers settled on its most in-tune holes for recording, keeping a basin of water by his feet to dampen the flute regularly mid-performance, ultimately finishing the recording of Mountain Blossoms.
Every decorative engraving on the flute is his original design. To illustrate his concept, he sketched on a whiteboard: two small green hands sprout from the flute’s lower side, cradling a large red palm rising from the base. ‘Flip it upside down, and the small hands turn into leaf sprigs while the big palm blooms into a full flower,‘ he says with a grin, continuing to draw with his marker.