Artemis Aether is a mysterious Australian collective that has just released their debut album entitled Leaver. A fully-integrated “dark indie” concept album, Leaver is meant to be heard as a whole, and is intimately connected with striking, three dimensional gallery-level artwork and conceptual stories.
In a nutshell, the name Artemis Aether refers to “…a mask moving fatalistically from character to character, seeing the world a little skewed from each set of eyes. The album traces the arc of Artemis's search for meaning and redemption through the many faces that are found.” The group describes this work as “erratic yet interconnected, sombre yet soothing.” The album was recorded in several locations around Melbourne using Ableton, Logic and Pro Tools, and was mastered by Peter Linanne at Patch Hill Mastering in Massachusetts. That’s about all for credits, which pains me as a reviewer because there’s so much here to appreciate and I’d love to heap the praise on somebody! But I respect Aether’s conceptual anonymity and will approach their project in that spirit. In general, this music is heavy with electronic keyboards and somber beats. The lead vocals recall Imagine Dragons, while the lush background voices have the eerie quality of the moodier Radiohead songs. “When You Return” is a “weighted reverie” constructed from bits of piano samples played forward and backward, anchored by electronic beats and short percussive sound effects. It’s dramatic and beautiful and difficult to describe. The vocals swell for the big climax: “Laid my flaws beneath you / Waited for the storm / Gave my word to leave you / Better than before / When you return here to me.” This track flows directly into “An Insubstantial Creature,” a short spoken-word coda about jellyfish. Moving into a short song section, the background vocals multiply and break off into tiny, gorgeous gems of sound. “Half” continues similar themes and beats from the first two tracks with subtle variations. The interplay between the male and female voices recalls Of Monsters And Men; the track builds inexorably, finally exploding in a supernova of vocals, electric guitar and strings. The next track “The Light” is stylistically more of quiet, lovely piano coda than a new composition. “Fold The Fires First” is melodically exciting but is perhaps too dependent on studio tricks such as reverse echo and sampling, calling attention to the more artificial aspects of this music (the band itself calls this song “bombastic electro”). This is a personal preference and your mileage may vary. However I was gladdened by the sweet, gentle piano melodies of “Brittle Bones” which feels like the best songs of Imagine Dragons. I really love the orchestral string samples played pizzicato here. “Help Me Rest” appropriately slows down the tempo for a more contemplative vibe. There’s some French spoken word that I made the effort to translate: hilariously, it’s the lyrics to Neil Young’s “Heart Of Gold”! The mellow feel continues with “If Only All” with lazy handclap percussion and sparkling keyboard samples; the synthetic horns reminded me of The Weakerthans’ melodic ennui, and some of the keyboard fragments are like dreams of Vegas slot machines. This song is dramatic enough to feel like the capper, but “Let It Breathe” ends the collection for a bit of “spiritual solace.” The beat is constructed from multiple stutter-y samples behind some of the most gentle vocals on the album. Although it feels a bit overly constructed at times, I thought this was a great conceptual piece that plays through with consistent themes and sounds, beautiful melodies and fine musicianship. But really… who ARE you?
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May 2024
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