Aerosol – Leave
So now that the weather looks to finally be improving here in the UK, something warm and summery has landed in my lap. Here’s a timely reminder that the leaves are growing back and flowers are bursting into colour. Aerosol is one guy, Rasmus Rasmussen, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s not too often that I review material from Denmark. ‘Never’ would be more accurate, which kind of makes this a first! Leave is actually Aerosol’s third album – and his first for nearly six years.
The album’s basically electronic throughout – with the odd splattering of guitar thrown in for good measure (with a good dose of digital delay). By electronic music, I’m not talking music which will make you want to jump around the room in your tracksuit bottoms, It’s more the thinking man’s electronica – think John Carpenter, Ulrich Schnauss or even Jean-Michel Jarre. There’s a definite vibe going on musically here which makes the album feels somewhat less contemporary than, say, the likes of Ulrich Schnauss. It’s possibly the lack of drums and percussion on many of the tracks. As a result, much of the music washes over you like a wave. Title track ‘Leave’ is a case in point – layers upon layers of warm-sounding synths. It’s like stepping into a hot bath on a cold day. Both welcoming and necessary.
‘Possible’ could be the sound of early evening sunset. The best kind of time to enjoy a gin & tonic in the garden. With crushed ice. And lime. I was about to say that the acoustic guitar, electric guitar and piano combination sounds sublime when I remembered that there used to be a bar in Manchester called Lime. Downstairs was a club called Sublime (see what they did there?).
In contrast, ‘Passing’ is the kind of track which pops up half way through a movie as the camera backs away from the main character who’s just discovered that his wife’s been cheating on him and his best friend’s just taken a flight to live on the other side of the world. I like to call it ‘thought provoking’.
After several listens, this isn’t music which grabs you by the throat but it will certainly wrap you in a warm blanket. And on one of those warm, summery evenings, what’s better than that?