Jienan Yuan releases his debut EP, ‘We Saw Everything’ through “Actually, Records.” in early 2009. ‘We Saw Everything’ is written and produced by Jienan Yuan and was recorded in various locations throughout Chicago between 2000 and 2008.

‘We Saw Everything’ prefaces Yuan’s forthcoming full-length album, ‘Afterglow’, with a concise introduction of his unique musical vision. Reflective and bittersweet, his music glimmers with the fragments of unrequited love and faded memories; an electro-acoustic current of sound over which Yuan’s delicate melodies float and tremble. From the graceful ‘Because SK’, the plaintive ‘No Land’s Man’, to the atmospheric and melancholic ‘Magdalena Avenue’, Yuan’s music inhabits the emotionally fragile and ephemeral space between lifelong regret and uncertain acceptance – a searching affection that resonates throughout the quietly devastating songs on ‘We Saw Everything’.

We Saw Everything also features two special collaborative works – “Glint,” a reworking of a Hope in Ghosts song, with new lyrics and melodies co-written with Jarrod Whittington, and “Walking Between the Lines,” which originally appeared in the titular Apple Inc/Cherry Sky Films short, directed by Vincent Tsu (Sons of Anarchy). 

Guest appearances on the EP include contributions from Ted Flynn (Hope in Ghosts, Japancakes), Jarrod Whittington (The Red Wheelbarrow, Captain Exploder), Carly Oishi (Oishi), and Jon Monteverde (XYZR_KX).

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“Yuan’s melancholy pop makes rainy days, messy breakups, and shitty jobs beautiful. “Glint” and “No Lands Man” have soft vocals and delicate guitars that channel the spirit of Bread. “Because SK” and “Walking Between The Lines” are pure atmosphere, with straight-up piano and synthesizer, respectively. Both songs are cinematic, but nothing compared to “Magdalena Avenue.” The final track starts off as a field recording of footsteps, muffled voices, and distant cars, but Yuan’s piano hints at a narrative. The effect is haunting and awesome.”
- Giant Robot

"I like you, Jienan!  (...) for making an EP that's worth putting on for its brief 18 minutes.  Nylon stringed guitars, hushed background vocals, and a melancholic refrain are all that's needed to lock my attention.  I was won over within the first 30 seconds.

"We Saw Everything" contains only five songs, all of which were written and recorded between 2000 and 2008 (maybe why this is a collection of "just the meat"), but every one of them is necessary to the landscape of Yuan's vision.  This is a soundtrack for the days when you're on the bus heading to your shitty job, feeling alone and broken, wondering why the sky is perpetually grey this week, and realizing that there is something depressingly beautiful about the urban decay and decline.

With un-rushed , atmospheric, and sweltering songs, "We Saw Everything" is but a taste of Jienan Yuan's talent, and since a full-length album is in the works we are about to be introduced to a much grander experience."

- Lucid Forge