Review of Aquamarine Space Unicorns’ Latest LP Anartist
Aquamarine Space Unicorns released their new album, Anartist, in May 2019. Their bandcamp page tags this album as primarily triphop and dream pop. Anartist blends these two genres very well and very faithfully and creates both a chill and reflective mood. Anartist is their second full length release so far in 2019.
After listening through the record, it impresses me how good all of the drum samples sound. They are all very crisp and alive, not muddled down in heavy handed effects or under-realized and lazily thrown together. The snares and cymbals are bright and keep the music from getting boring with their steady, rhythmic pulsing. And the bass drum and tom tones resonate and fit in well with everything else going on in the music. Much like the great sounding drum samples, all of the synths and other melody instruments sound very good. The vocals are also recorded very well.
The drum patterns are one of my favorite aspects of the record. They’re consistently interesting and always seem to fit in with the music perfectly. I think one of the challenges dream pop musicians often face is keeping their music engaging enough to listen to without putting listeners to sleep. The Cocteau Twins aren’t good 3 am driving music. And while the melodic aspects of this album are very much in line with dream pop, the triphop-inspired drums add such an interesting twist to the genre.
Another thing that strikes me about the composition and arrangement of this album is its non-abrasive nature. There are almost no dissonant chords or melodies and the drums are mixed without any anxiety-inducing elements. The melodies are almost all consonant and are easy to listen to. And most of the chords and other harmonies are without any diminished, augmented or otherwise out of place intervals. What makes that especially interesting is that as the songs build to their motifs, new layers of samples are added section to section. Many of these samples aren’t quite in tune with the key of the piece or in sync with the song’s rhythmic centers, but still the consonant, chill aspect of these songs are maintained and even enhanced by samples being layered out of sync. That is extremely impressive.
This album maintains a lot of space within itself. Chords have room to breathe. Vocals don’t come and keep coming after brief chordal turnarounds or a quick melody break. Each song takes its time and develops according to its own motif, nothing feels rushed or constructed to fit a kind of intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-solo section-chorus-chorus-fade out formula.
The album layers and layers and layers upon itself. The chordal arrangements are generally all simple and straight-forward. Again, the depth of this album comes in the gradual addition of melodies and samples as each song progresses. There is sparse use of heavily distorted and filtered guitar leads in a couple songs. In some places they’re used to accompany vocal melodies and I think that’s a very well-executed idea. Sometimes musicians are hesitant to pile up melodies on top of melodies and I respect it when people aren’t afraid to surround their vocals with instrumental melody.
I think what makes this record special and appealing is the way it takes very standard dream pop melodies and puts them alongside very standard triphop rhythm sections and chordal and sample arrangements. It’s a great record to read to, a great record to cook with or relax with or make out to or garden with.
After listening through the record, it impresses me how good all of the drum samples sound. They are all very crisp and alive, not muddled down in heavy handed effects or under-realized and lazily thrown together. The snares and cymbals are bright and keep the music from getting boring with their steady, rhythmic pulsing. And the bass drum and tom tones resonate and fit in well with everything else going on in the music. Much like the great sounding drum samples, all of the synths and other melody instruments sound very good. The vocals are also recorded very well.
The drum patterns are one of my favorite aspects of the record. They’re consistently interesting and always seem to fit in with the music perfectly. I think one of the challenges dream pop musicians often face is keeping their music engaging enough to listen to without putting listeners to sleep. The Cocteau Twins aren’t good 3 am driving music. And while the melodic aspects of this album are very much in line with dream pop, the triphop-inspired drums add such an interesting twist to the genre.
Another thing that strikes me about the composition and arrangement of this album is its non-abrasive nature. There are almost no dissonant chords or melodies and the drums are mixed without any anxiety-inducing elements. The melodies are almost all consonant and are easy to listen to. And most of the chords and other harmonies are without any diminished, augmented or otherwise out of place intervals. What makes that especially interesting is that as the songs build to their motifs, new layers of samples are added section to section. Many of these samples aren’t quite in tune with the key of the piece or in sync with the song’s rhythmic centers, but still the consonant, chill aspect of these songs are maintained and even enhanced by samples being layered out of sync. That is extremely impressive.
This album maintains a lot of space within itself. Chords have room to breathe. Vocals don’t come and keep coming after brief chordal turnarounds or a quick melody break. Each song takes its time and develops according to its own motif, nothing feels rushed or constructed to fit a kind of intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus-solo section-chorus-chorus-fade out formula.
The album layers and layers and layers upon itself. The chordal arrangements are generally all simple and straight-forward. Again, the depth of this album comes in the gradual addition of melodies and samples as each song progresses. There is sparse use of heavily distorted and filtered guitar leads in a couple songs. In some places they’re used to accompany vocal melodies and I think that’s a very well-executed idea. Sometimes musicians are hesitant to pile up melodies on top of melodies and I respect it when people aren’t afraid to surround their vocals with instrumental melody.
I think what makes this record special and appealing is the way it takes very standard dream pop melodies and puts them alongside very standard triphop rhythm sections and chordal and sample arrangements. It’s a great record to read to, a great record to cook with or relax with or make out to or garden with.
Anartist is on sale at Aquamarine Space Unicorns’ bandcamp along with their other work.
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Thursday Simpson lives lives between Peoria, Illinois, and Iowa City, Iowa. She is a multimedia artist, working with both music and literature. She is currently living as a kind of trans lesbian Bruiser Brody. She believes in Feline Satan and garlic and onions. Her Twitter is @JeanBava and her full publication history can be found at www.thursdaysimpson.com
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