Album Review: Space Above Play Music To Keep You “Still”
Electronica is a more nuanced genre then anyone might presume. When you think of Electronica, you think of techno-raves and jungle-esque clubs with glitter and rouge plastered on youthful faces as they twirl like tops. Yes, it is a vivid idea, but it is not wrong, at all. Yet, there are more detailed acts like Space Above: the side project of Aaron Short, the New Zealand artist/ producer and keyboardist for The Naked and Famous. With fellow kiwis, Sam McCarthy (BOYBOY) and Maddie North (So Below), he has made his debut on the album Still.
At first listen, Still is a strange world. Its not like your typical electronica nor is it like anything from these musicians previous work. Instead, the record feels like the electro-soundtrack into Pan’s Labyrinth. You know you have stepped into a twisted fairytale in tracks such as, “Leave Home” and “Hold In”. Yet, the whole point of a fairytale is that for however dark, you still reach a hopeful note/happier ending. Still feels like a fairytale that would take place in a Jupiter Kingdom. As a princess runs through the corridors of an intergalactic castle, she tries to decipher how the ornate walls of her palace have led to her “Growing Pains” or whether she should “Stay”. The fantastic thing is that you really feel you are going through the sonic space odyssey of a lost spirit. Space Above has masterfully place through electro-melodies the confusion every soul undergoes when they have no idea whether they are happy. Yes, you can be stable and even well-fed, but still feel unfulfilled and joyless. Short has arranged his keys to have a heaviness that makes each strike fall like a dark cloud on your mind. For however, airy these notes, they still feel shrouded in mystery and frenetic thoughts like, “Beneath The Lights” and “Laniakea”. Thus, I would categorize Still as dark electronica.
Admittedly, I am growing more fascinated with sound as an igniter of your own words and thoughts. One presumes that being told a message relays it, but Still shows that messages are not told; they are dreamed. You see in your mind a vision, and it is up to you to receive and give it through words, actions, and in Space Above’s case, music. By making a symphony that plays like spears of light are flashing towards you, one sees that Space Above have chosen a perfect band name and perfect album title. What more can keep you still then light and music coming towards you. For More Information On Space Above and To Buy Still Click Here.
