Artist of the Day: Sun Airway

Sun Airway's debut album, Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier, was the ultimate "nostalgia" album.  The albums transcending and dream like atmospheres, its hazy yet catchy choruses, and its passive aggressive nature make it an album that only reminds you of old things.  Even though the hazy and dream like atmospheres created on Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier reminded you of all your old, beautiful, and vague dreams, even though the strained and distorted singing made you feel like you were flipping through the pages of all your old scrapbooks, and even though the albums soaring and borderline seductive choruses reminded you of all your favorite memories, it is easy to say the album was lacking one distinct quality: a quality that made us actually remember it.  Even though NOECC was the ultimate nostalgia album, it lacked the musical quality that would make us remember it in the distant future. So even though NOECC was an album that allowed us to "remember," it lacked the necessary qualities that would make us think of it as a memorable album; an album that we could get nostalgic about.

But on their latest release, Soft Fall, Sun Airway have found a distinct sound that will make sure all of their future releases are albums we can be nostalgic about in the future.  Soft Fall combines the hazy and dream like atmospheres and sounds of NOECC with a new and futuristic rocking vibe. Just about every track on Soft Fall easily combines the nostalgic feel of NOECC with a new rocking sound that the band has developed over the past two years: the heavy electronic influence and deafening drumming on "Close" washes over you yet makes you want to dance at the same time, "Laketop Swimmers" sounds like a combination of Passion Pit and the Weeknd, and the opening piano riff and electronic guitar riff of "Black Noise" is a perfect example of the bands new aggressive yet still nostalgic sound.

Not only is just about every track on Soft Fall excellent, every song is a perfect combination of the bands old nostalgic sound and new hard rocking and "current" sound.  This means that not only have Sun Airway made a great album with Soft Fall, they have made a borderline universal album.  They have made an album that is not just for the past, but it an album that we will listen to for many years in the future.  Sun Airway still have the sound that will remind you of all your firsts, but they now combine that with a sound that will give you hope that you will have an absolutely fantastic future.  Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier may have been the album that made you feel like you were flipping through your old scrapbook, but Soft Fall is an album that reminds you that the same book still has some empty pages.  Soft Fall is still nostalgic, but in a new way.  It is important reminder that we still have a future to be nostalgic about.  And that makes it one of the better listens of 2012.

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