ambient
After two crushing doom metal albums and a bunch of electronic beats and breaks, I feel like it's time for something calm and soothing. I started browsing through my mailbox when I suddenly saw a familiar name, Aukai. I first got acquainted with this project a year and a half ago when my wife reviewed his untitled debut (read). Since then, the project is a constant in our day-to-day playlist. Today I'm thrilled to add thirteen new tracks (or twelve and a remix by Ben Lukas Boysen) to that list. Once again Aukai pleasantly surprises me with dreamy tunes, slowly balancing on the edge between ambient, downtempo, post rock and classical music.
The promo told me that this album would be somewhat darker than its predecessor. However, we are far, far away from darkness on 'Branches Of Sun'. To me, most of these tracks still sound playful, joyous and elated. Ok, opening track 'Colorado' drives on a deep, gloomy bass line but there are also tracks like 'Oars' and 'Fragmentary Blue' which remind me of acts like Laraaji while others bring Sakamoto or Eno to mind.
'Distracted By Clouds' on the other hand seems to somewhat delve into the world of post rock. I can easily imagine a post rock act turning this into something bombastic and epic. Not that this is a boring track, on the very contrary. Nothing here is boring and everything manages to bring a smile to my face. 'Nightfall', for instance, which brings folk and classical music together in a beautiful cinematic way.
As I reread my wife's earlier review, I noticed that she added projects like Kitaro, Olafur Arnalds, Mike Oldfield and Jozef Van Wissem. And yes, I have to admit, those influences shine through on this album too. 'Become' could be an Arnalds track with it melancholic piano sounds. But regardless of all the aforementioned names, I think Markus Sieber is simply a very talented man who once again delivered pure musical bliss. That is probably the most important thing...
Serge
The promo told me that this album would be somewhat darker than its predecessor. However, we are far, far away from darkness on 'Branches Of Sun'. To me, most of these tracks still sound playful, joyous and elated. Ok, opening track 'Colorado' drives on a deep, gloomy bass line but there are also tracks like 'Oars' and 'Fragmentary Blue' which remind me of acts like Laraaji while others bring Sakamoto or Eno to mind.
'Distracted By Clouds' on the other hand seems to somewhat delve into the world of post rock. I can easily imagine a post rock act turning this into something bombastic and epic. Not that this is a boring track, on the very contrary. Nothing here is boring and everything manages to bring a smile to my face. 'Nightfall', for instance, which brings folk and classical music together in a beautiful cinematic way.
As I reread my wife's earlier review, I noticed that she added projects like Kitaro, Olafur Arnalds, Mike Oldfield and Jozef Van Wissem. And yes, I have to admit, those influences shine through on this album too. 'Become' could be an Arnalds track with it melancholic piano sounds. But regardless of all the aforementioned names, I think Markus Sieber is simply a very talented man who once again delivered pure musical bliss. That is probably the most important thing...
Serge
