MySpace was an amazing vehicle for musicians a long time ago... In 2006, a quirk of fate sent me to the page of Au4 to fall in love with their music. I found them again on Facebook about a year ago, and waited for an announced second album. When it arrived, on 5th December 2012, it was like 6 years went by in a flash.
“…And Down Goes The Sky” is that much awaited second album of this Vancouver based band. (Much awaited by me, that is, and a hand full of fans, as this project is little known outside the Canadian borders, as mind boggling as that may be.) It has proven the pattern of second albums, in my experience. It not only surpasses the first album creatively and technically, it overcame every expectation I might have had.
This is not an evaluation, as I can't really explain, nor would presume to explain music the way a music critic does, I just like it or I don't. But I wanted to say a few words about this record. I also wanted to wait some time before saying anything, to allow the initial excitement to die down, and actually see if I still enjoyed listening to it after having heard it the first few times, put it away, and listened again. And so, today, I can tell you this: it made it through the test.
Being labelled as electronica, with influences such as NIN and Sigur Rós, both amazing projects (the latter being one of my all-time favourites), you will be surprised at how Au4's music does not sound like that at all. There is a very intense organic side to it, brought in by string and brass sections, deep and full bass lines and perfect voice harmonies. This record is indeed a masterpiece that defies classification. The melodies are moving, the arrangements voluminous, grandiose at times, and then a streamlined, almost spartan voice surprises you with that apparent simplicity only perfect inspiration can produce.
Being labelled as electronica, with influences such as NIN and Sigur Rós, both amazing projects (the latter being one of my all-time favourites), you will be surprised at how Au4's music does not sound like that at all. There is a very intense organic side to it, brought in by string and brass sections, deep and full bass lines and perfect voice harmonies. This record is indeed a masterpiece that defies classification. The melodies are moving, the arrangements voluminous, grandiose at times, and then a streamlined, almost spartan voice surprises you with that apparent simplicity only perfect inspiration can produce.
It also delivers in the form of words, with lyrics that present a theme and an argument. According to the band, as described in their website (by clicking on each song, you will get a synopsis of the meaning behind it), these 11 songs tell tales on losing faith, on discovering that God does not exist and that there is no heaven to look forward to.
Perhaps that's true. For the sake of that argument, I will say that these same 11 songs remind me of that scene in the film Amadeus, where Salieri describes the music of Mozart as the voice of God. Now, hold down your horses, I'm not comparing Au4 to Mozart! My point is that, as I see it, God is not an ominous figure hanging above us in the heavens, as in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. It is in us and it shows itself through those of us who create beauty. Au4 have created something beautiful.
As for heaven, it's also not a physical place where you go to when you die if you've been good; it resides in that place in our souls where we go to when we are given the opportunity to experience such beauty. Every time you say "I'm in Heaven!" for whatever reason, that's where Heaven is. Listening to this album is a 64 minutes holiday in Heaven. Every single time. And there are a few clouds nine in there, in the angelical So Just Hang On, Beautiful One, in the laughter and love that fills Forever Dancing Under a Fallen Sky, in the poetry of These Subtle Lights ... all of it right here on Earth.
If there's any plausibility in this theory, Au4 can rest assured that they won't be "gone in 3 seconds". Such music lives forever, and in it, so do they. And even if we're smaller than a Planck length, we still are. "Suck it up".
This all may sound a bit over the board and dramatic, I can be prone to enthusiasm, but it's the way I personally understand spirituality (in a slightly pagan way), and the part that music plays in it. It pretty much applies to all the music that I love.
To conclude, you should lend them your ears. As a snippet of what you will find in “…And Down Goes The Sky”, I'll leave you with the last track, Over The Edge It Goes, the whole 14 glorious minutes of it. Enjoy the superb guitar solo by Daniel Moir, slightly reminiscent of The Wall, and every bit as good.
Perhaps that's true. For the sake of that argument, I will say that these same 11 songs remind me of that scene in the film Amadeus, where Salieri describes the music of Mozart as the voice of God. Now, hold down your horses, I'm not comparing Au4 to Mozart! My point is that, as I see it, God is not an ominous figure hanging above us in the heavens, as in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam. It is in us and it shows itself through those of us who create beauty. Au4 have created something beautiful.
As for heaven, it's also not a physical place where you go to when you die if you've been good; it resides in that place in our souls where we go to when we are given the opportunity to experience such beauty. Every time you say "I'm in Heaven!" for whatever reason, that's where Heaven is. Listening to this album is a 64 minutes holiday in Heaven. Every single time. And there are a few clouds nine in there, in the angelical So Just Hang On, Beautiful One, in the laughter and love that fills Forever Dancing Under a Fallen Sky, in the poetry of These Subtle Lights ... all of it right here on Earth.
If there's any plausibility in this theory, Au4 can rest assured that they won't be "gone in 3 seconds". Such music lives forever, and in it, so do they. And even if we're smaller than a Planck length, we still are. "Suck it up".
This all may sound a bit over the board and dramatic, I can be prone to enthusiasm, but it's the way I personally understand spirituality (in a slightly pagan way), and the part that music plays in it. It pretty much applies to all the music that I love.
To conclude, you should lend them your ears. As a snippet of what you will find in “…And Down Goes The Sky”, I'll leave you with the last track, Over The Edge It Goes, the whole 14 glorious minutes of it. Enjoy the superb guitar solo by Daniel Moir, slightly reminiscent of The Wall, and every bit as good.
…And Down Goes The Sky
Get the digital album here
Physical release: TBA (check their Facebook for updates)
Au4 are: Ben Wylie, Aaron Wylie, Nathan Wylie and Jason Nickel
With the vocal participation of:
Anna Vandas, Melanie Krueger, Josh Wylie
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