Airbag – Progradar

Review – Airbag – The Century of the Self

“Prepare to embark on an auditory journey like no other as Norwegian prog-rock maestros Airbag unleash their highly anticipated sixth studio album, ‘The Century Of The Self’. Showcasing their trademark fusion of mellow introspection and dynamic energy, from the mesmerising depths of Dysphoria to the haunting crescendo of Tyrants And Kings, each track captivates with irresistible vocal hooks and virtuosic lead guitar work that has become synonymous with the Airbag sound.”

Let me first put in a disclaimer before you read this review, I am a huge fan of Airbag and Bjørn Riis‘ solo work but I will be as objective as I can throughout.

Right, now we’ve got that out of the way, let us begin…

‘The Century of the Self’ is an album that stands as a testament to the artistic vision and enduring creativity that Airbag bring to their music. Touching on themes such as cancel culture and the rewriting of personal histories, it is a reflection on modern society’s zeitgeist, and a poignant commentary of today’s world, which is steeped in fear and condemnation.

Those words really got me excited when I read the promo email that came from the band’s label, Karisma. I have been an admirer of the lush soundscapes created by this wonderful band since I first heard their debut album, ‘Identity’, back in 2009 and they have matured like a fine wine ever since. Their discography of five studio albums prior to this latest release has some absolute gems like ‘All Rights Removed’ and ‘Disconnected’ but every Airbag release is a superb auditory experience.

Let’s cut to the chase, ‘Century of the Self’ is another brilliant album but one that maybe has a more edgier, in your face attitude than the earlier releases. Through its five tracks we go through the whole gammut of powerful, hypnotic bass lines, powerful riffs and thunderous drumming to a lightness of touch and contemplation and everything in between. It is as complete a listening experience as you will get and will excite Airbag fans both old and new.

The slow burning, edgy Dysphoria will keep you on edge with Bjørn Riis‘ coruscating guitar lines and Kristian Hultgren’s superbly metronomic bass lines. Add in the elegant drums of Henrik Bergan Fossum and Asle Tostrup’s hypnotic vocals and we are already onto a winner, this is Airbag turned up to eleven! A standout track on a album of killer tunes, the wonderful Tyrants and Kings ebbs and flows with an elegance and precision that is a joy to hear. Riis’ guitar playing, ably assisted by Ole Michael Bjørndal, is as intense and scintillating as ever and literally stops you in your tracks and Tostrup’s haunting vocal delivery is just a delight. This is Airbag at their magnificent best and it’s a pleasure to hear them delivering songs of such calibre, even after fifteen years together. This is music that you need to listen to with no distractions to get the best from every note and the solo at the end is just about damn perfect! I spoke about a lightness of touch and contemplation earlier and that is what you get on the wistfully refined Awakening, a song that just dances lightly over your emotions and leaves a feeling of calmness and joy in your heart. Asle Tostrup delivers a near perfect vocal performance full of pathos, passion and poignancy, “Wake up and feel again…” a line that says so much. The guitar is ethereal and contemplative, breaking out into a plaintive and ardent solo that really touches your heartstrings. It’s just an exquisite and uplifting piece of music that will really leave its mark on you.

Things get a lot more primeval and edgy with Erase, the stylishly mesmerising bass line and Tostrup’s vocals spellbinding in their delivery and grabbing your attention. The restless, tense atmosphere is created by the terse drum beat and cacophonic guitar riff before the mood gets even more chaotic when Riis opens up with some dissonant and jarring licks and another superb solo that raises the roof. The album closes with the epic conclusion of Tear It Down, fourteen minutes of music that goes from serene introspective self-reflection to some of the most forceful and compelling music that the band have ever written. The track opens with a mellow, reflective vibe that sees synth lines and a ghostly guitar just wash over you, Asle’s voice a soothing presence along with the refined drum beat. Everything then opens up with dynamic and vibrant section that almost raises the hairs on your neck before we return back to the calm serenity of before, the track ebbing and flowing between the two in perfect harmony. A special shout out must be given to Simen Valldal Johannessen whose keyboards on this song are exceptional but you just need to let the music do its work and immerse yourself in the experience, the guitar solo that closes out the track, and the album, is particularly memorable

‘Century of the Self’ is a mesmerising and involving odyssey that elevates you to a musical nirvana that not many artists can create. Airbag are one of those bands that just seem to get better with age and this new release just might be their best album yet, and that’s saying something!

Released 14th June, 2024.

Buy the album from Burning Shed here:

Airbag (burningshed.com)

Or from bandcamp here:

The Century of the Self | Airbag (bandcamp.com)

Progradar Top Ten Albums of the Year 2020.

It’s that time again, that time when we supposed musical journalists put together a (subjective) list of our favourite albums that were released in 2020.

This list is very subjective and may have been different a few weeks ago, it is a list of ten albums that have touched me in any way in the previous 12 months and ones that I go back and listen to often.

There have been some that have been very close to my top ten, ‘Breaking Point’ by Jump, ‘Foxholesque’ by The Foxholes, ‘Brave New World’ by Built For The Future, ‘Dreaming City’ by Glass Hammer and ‘Beyond’ by Hibernal are just a few that were knocking on the door of my top ten and would definitely be included in a top twenty but just where do you stop!

So, here it is, my list of my top ten albums for 2020, they are in no particular order, apart from my number one and I’m sure most of you can guess what that is…

Pendragon – Love Over Fear

Intelligent and insightful lyrics and four musicians at the very top of their game are great ingredients to have when you create a new album, however Pendragon have added a dash of magic that is rarely seen in modern music nowadays. There is no such thing as the perfect record, musicians are always striving to concoct something better than has gone before but “Love Over Fear” is as close to perfection that you can get, the best album of the last twenty years in fact and, in my humble opinion, and that is a very rare beast indeed!

Released 14th February 2020

The Tangent – Auto-reconnaissance

The Tangent are a British progressive rock institution and every new album is eagerly awaited by the fans and, while every fan will have their own opinion, ‘Auto Reconnaissance’ is my favourite album from the band yet. Andy is on top form, his song writing is as sharp and clever as ever and he has gathered around him a group of musicians who seriously have no peers. A superb release and one which cements The Tangent’s already exalted reputation.

Released 21st August 2020

Blue Rose Code – With Healings Of The Deepest Kind

When it comes to music that salves the soul and gives joy to the heart, this album has few peers. An utter musical joy and one that everyone should listen to at least once, it has an honesty and innocence that is rare in the music industry these days.

Released July 17th 2020

Jon Gomm – The Faintest Idea

When most people look at an acoustic guitar, they see exactly that – a wooden box with strings. As one of the pioneers of the modern fingerstyle sound, however, Jon Gomm has a rare gift for turning one instrument into what feels like an entire orchestra, with this new album he has found new emotional depths in immense melodic pop landscapes.

Released 16th October 2020.

Lunatic Soul – Through Shaded Woods

On album number seven Mariusz Duda, the multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and mastermind behind Lunatic Soul is extending his musical explorations to include dark Scandinavian and Slavic folk referencing bands like Heilung or Wardruna. Following the heavily electronic sound of previous albums Fractured and Under the Fragmented Sky, Through Shaded Woods is completely devoid of electronics and is the first album in Duda’s discography, on which he plays all instruments.

Duda appears to have put the personal darkness that inspired his previous albums behind him, as more optimistic elements shine through in his new music. The album becoming musically “brighter” as it progresses – from the atmospheric introduction of “Navvie” through to the title track, which leads the listener to a melodious, trance like “Oblivion”, echoing the style of Dead Can Dance.

Released 13th November

Airbag – A Day At The Beach

Airbag have returned with a complex release, musically and emotionally. A serious album and one that is seriously impressive, combining ethereal soundscapes with their signature guitar driven progressive rock. They have created a mature, powerful sound that inspires on many levels, delivering one of the most sophisticated releases of the year.

Released June 19th 2020

Dyble/Longdon – Between A Breath And A Breath

This is an album that you must listen to or you miss it at your peril. I cannot recommend this highly enough, I think it is one of my albums of the year. Indeed the beautiful music and the grace that the album offers make this worthy of a place in any albums of the year listing. Yes, it is that good, truly remarkable in fact!

(Words by John Wenlock-Smith)

Released 25th September 2020

Fish – Weltschmerz

The legendary Scottish singer’s last studio release is one of his finest and his best since ’13th Star’ (in my opinion). Grandiose in scale and delivery, the music has a maturity and melodrama missing in most of what you will hear nowadays. Fish’s songwriting abilities are as strong as they have ever been and the unique dulcet tones of his Scot’s brogue herald some of his mightiest compositions yet. A highlight of a very stellar career.

Released 25th September 2020

Silent Skies – Satellites

In this year where we have all been touched by the horrific effects of the pandemic, Vikram and Tom have given us something quite magical, an ultimately uplifting collection of beautiful songs that leave a lasting touch on our hearts and souls. ‘Satellites’ gives a feeling of hope and calm reflection that we can take into 2021 and will leave you with a smile on your face and love in your heart.

This release has jumped straight into my top 5 of the year, in fact, I love it that much I have just bought the vinyl…

Released 11th December 2020

So, here it is, my number one album of 2020 and I’m sure it will come as no surprise…

Abel Ganz – The Life Of The Honey Bee And Other Moments Of Clarity

How to sum up my feelings? I have a very close connection with Abel Ganz but that has not made any difference to how I have reviewed this album. Put simply, it is not just the best album I have heard this year, it is one of the best albums I have ever heard in my 52 years. More than just a collection of songs or even stories, it is part of the band member’s very souls and when they put all of that into making a record, you are going to get something very special indeed.

Released 6th July 2020

Review – Airbag – A Day at the Beach

“No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.” ― Kurt Vonnegut

Crikey, there’s a quote that’s stood the test of time and how true it is. I am sat here listening to the much anticipated new album from the Norwegian masters of artful, melancholic prog, Airbag and it really has hit a nerve in the times we are living in. The soaring solos and mournful vocals paint a sparse musical scene but stir the soul and touch the heart in ways nothing else can.

‘A Day at the Beach’, the band’s fifth album, was released on 19th June, a mere four years after its predecessor ‘Disconnected’. Lyrically, it is very much a story of us and them, told by a husband, father and brother leaving his family behind into an unknown future. It’s the contrast between the desperate individual struggling to survive and people in power observing at a safe distance.

For the production of “A Day at the Beach”, Airbag has once again teamed up with long-time collaborator and engineer Vegard Sleipnes and it was mastered by Jacob Holm-Lupo. The album is produced by Asle Tostrup and Bjørn Riis and, as always, the cover is designed by vocalist Tostrup. The album, which is their first as a trio, also features talented guest musicians including Kristian Hultgren (Wobbler).

‘A Day at the Beach’ consists of six new songs recorded during autumn and winter of 2019-20 and inspired by the resurgence of 1980s electronica, new wave and movie scores. The album is an ethereal soundscape of cinematic vastness with a brooding, primeval backdrop.

Asle Tostrup’s vocals almost have a krautrock sensibility to them as he delivers each perfectly enunciated word. The music is full of tension and yet there is a wistful, almost nostalgic undercurrent that lies beneath. Central to the band’s sound is the incredible guitar work of Bjørn Riis, the vivid precision of his playing lends an otherworldly aura to every track and when he unleashes a solo it is a thing of iridescent wonder.

Every track is a mesmerising wonder of restrained grace, elegance and class with world weary feel deep at their core. Opener Machines And Men is ten minutes plus of Scandinavian theatrical brilliance with a driving, graphic urge that almost puts you in fight or flight mode and the complimentary A Day at the Beach (Part 1) puts you in a state of calm reflection with its laid back, almost intangible air washing over your senses.

The highlight for me is the utterly magical Into The Unknown, a mesmerising two-part melting pot of electronica inspired synthesisers, beats and percussion complimented by Asle’s halting vocals and a faint, background guitar that fades out before returning in all its guitar blazing glory. A jaw-droppingly brilliant piece of music that I listen to all the time, the guitar playing is just entrancing and spellbinding and will take you to another world (unfortunately only metaphorically!), take a bow Bjørn…

Sunsets is a much more in your face and urgent song with a rather funky bassline that is delivered with a compelling and weighty overtone. A powerful guitar riff, dominant drums and an authoritative vocal driving the track along with a much heavier vibe before swathes of stylish keyboards and punchy guitar wash over you. A Day at the Beach (Part 2) is an instrumental that gives a Scandinavian left field vibe to a Tangerine Dream soundscape, it draws you in and captivates you with its mesmerising repetitive tone.

The album finishes with the heart-rending, raw brilliance of Megalomaniac, near ten minutes of painfully exquisite music that leaves nothing out, like a soul laid bare for all to see. It builds slowly with Asle’s touching vocal and Bjørn’s haunting, plaintive guitar and the ever present edge of the percussion, digging deeper into your psyche and breaking down any barriers. A harsh, strident guitar riff then breaks clear before an utterly majestic guitar solo, full of pain but countered by pathos, dominates the song, leaving you spent and overcome with emotion.

Released June 19th 2020.

Order from bandcamp here:

https://airbagsound.bandcamp.com/album/a-day-at-the-beach

Review – Bjørn Riis – Coming Home – by Progradar

Haunting and Melancholic are two words that can definitely be used to describe the songs that Norwegian musician Bjørn Riis has delivered on his last two solo releases, ‘Lullabies In A Car Crash’ and ‘Forever Comes To An End’. There is a fragile beauty and poignancy to Bjørn’s songwriting that gives it a captivating, hypnotic attraction.

Airbag co-founder, songwriter and lead guitarist, Bjørn will release his new mini album titled ‘Coming Home’ next month on Karisma Records. His unique guitar playing has a centre role, with soaring leads and beautiful textures.

“I’ve always felt that the guitar is an extension of me and a more comfortable and natural way of expressing myself musically” – Bjørn explains.

“I’m really happy and proud of the vocals this time and the duet with me and (Norwegian singer) Sichelle on Drowning is very emotional” – Bjørn continues.

Lyrically, ‘Coming Home’ deals with the fear and insecurity of being forgotten by the people around you. You imagine all these dramatic scenes and wonder if you’ll ever be missed if something really was to happen.

‘Coming Home’ also features a newly recorded semi-acoustic version of the title track of Bjørn’s 2014 solo debut, ‘Lullabies in a Car Crash’ (Karisma Records). “Lullabies just fit right into the mood and theme of this album. It’s almost become a new song. It’s very honest and moving” – Bjørn explains. The track features Airbag and Bjørn Riis Band touring guitarist Ole Michael Bjørndal on lead guitar.

‘Coming Home’ is almost like a story where the scene is set by the brooding and darkly hued opening instrumental track Daybreak. A real slow burner, it takes a while to get moving with just a building sound that reminds you of a bleak and windswept vista before the deliberate, musing guitar fills the soundscape with a contemplative feel.

A sparse acoustic guitar washes over at the start of title track Coming Home, Bjørn’s slightly faltering vocal is full of emotion as this elegant track continues to gently lull you with its charms. A more laid back feel than the previous album emanates from every note and word as the music seems to meander towards an unseen destination. There’s a slight pause before Bjørn delivers a superb, note perfect guitar solo filled with passion and longing, one that soars high and free as a bird. As the song comes to a close I feel some kind of nostalgic yearning that I just can’t explain.

The wistful, contemplative tone continues with the fantastic Drowning, a song filled with feelings of loss and recrimination but one that still has a sense of wonder about it. The calm and serenity of the guitar and Bjørn’s vocal that open the track can’t shake an underlying aura of foreboding. Sichelle’s vocals add a fragile grace to the harmonies and the music gains added intensity, the guitar giving urgency and desperation to proceedings until it breaks like waves on immovable rocks. Sichelle takes us towards the end with a voice full of regret, the guitar adding a somber accompaniment as we come to a close.

Tonight’s The Night is a haunting (there you go, I told you!) instrumental that has you on the edge of your seat from the first note with its insistent piano and tense , ill at ease mood. There is no let up from beginning to end and I found myself visibly relaxing as the song came to an end.

The acoustic version of ‘Lullabies in a Car Crash’ unsurprisingly has a lighter tone to the other songs, a sepia-tinged piece of music underpinned by a wonderful acoustic guitar. The vocals are gossamer light giving the whole song a 70’s carefree spirit before a subtly powerful guitar solo gets under your skin and takes you to a place of utmost calm and reflection, without a care in the world. A remarkably honest reworking of the original track, it really is like a completely new song.

‘Coming Home’ feels like a very personal collection of songs, full of emotion, haunting and charismatic yet sparser and darker than Bjørn’s previous solo releases. Like all the best music, it needs to be listened to with little or no distractions to enjoy it in all its highly impressive glory. Bjørn Riis is one of those musicians who just gets better and better with each release, highly recommended.

Released 23rd February 2018

Pre-orders open soon at Bjørn’s website below:

http://www.bjornriis.com/recordings/

Review – Bjørn Riis – Forever Comes To An End – by Leo Trimming

An Airbag is a device designed to save your life or reduce injury in the event of a collision.

Can music save your life? Who knows?

But life does does bring us in to collisions with all sorts of unexpected events and we try to find ways to survive or at least lessen the impacts. From the sound and themes of Bjørn Riis’ second solo album, ‘Forever Comes to an End’ , it does seem evident that perhaps life has been impacting upon him deeply, reflected in an emotional release. Emotion is not a word usually associated with the sweeping, glacial Floydian soundscapes so beloved of Airbag, but Bjørn Riis has successfully created a more personalised album, infused with fragile feelings and delicate melodies alongside his trademark architectural sonic structures.

Bjørn Riis is the main songwriter and lead guitarist of the Norwegian Progressive rock band, Airbag, and that background is very apparent in the style of this album, although title track Forever Comes to an End does open the album in furious and heavy fashion, exploding into action immediately with Henrik Fossum of Airbag pounding out insistent driving drums. The theme of broken relationships and loss, with musings on the tension between Love and Hate are starkly focused upon in this crunching number:

‘Fear, Do you Fear, Do you feel the hate…. But I’m scared to let you go out of my life…’

Bjørn Riis contrasts the darker hard riffing passages, reminiscent of Sabbath’s Toni Iommi, with occasional lighter, less intense shafts of musical sunlight, framing impassioned pleas to stay. Vocally Riis delivers this song, and the whole album, with a sense of beautiful melancholy and yearning. This is powerful stuff in more ways than one. The brief bleak interlude soundscape of Absence atmospherically takes us to the emotive shores of The Waves, seguing with Ocean sounds as Riis intones mournfully :

‘I’ve been down for too long, I almost drowned,

There was darkness all around and it pulled me down to the deep’

In The Waves there is a fragility and emotional intensity in Riis’ voice, akin to Tim Bowness of No-Man, which gives this album a sense of honest emotion and humanity, born from personal experiences, and moves parts of this album away from the now predictable trademark Floyd style so successfully produced by Airbag on their albums. The Waves wistfully fades as the tide of the song recedes with echoes of the cinematic soundscapes of Thomas Newman film scores.

Instrumental Getaway slowly builds and builds, with layers of guitars across a sweeping canvas on synths, until a break of echoing keys and percussion is glided over by an icy guitar line. The driving rock theme returns with added wah-wah guitar, outstanding drums and riffs that more than hint at Porcupine Tree, that all add up to quite a thrilling ride. Calm shimmers with delicate beauty with a simple piano motif and acoustic guitars over lain with flute sounding keys, and then the whole piece eventually drifts away in to the distance, virtually acting as a beautiful introduction into Winter, the centrepiece of the whole album.

A gentle opening adorned with lilting acoustic guitar, over lain with subtle, tasteful electric guitar dashes in the vein of Marillion’s Steve Rothery, express the contradictory emotional forces of resentment and forgiving, hate and love…

“Now she’s gone, but I still want her here, She stole my heart and she turned it into stone…”

This remarkable piece develops with increasing intensity as Riis builds with beautiful musical textures and Sichelle Mcmeo Aksum adds a female delicacy to the vocals, alongside Riis. The inevitable Gilmour like soaring lead guitar parts are used sparingly but effectively. Riis’ guitar is the main ‘voice’ in Winter as he uses it intuitively to emotionally express probably what words sometimes cannot say about broken relationships. A lovely bass line with uncanny echoes of Porcupine Tree’s classic ‘Dark Matter’ underpins the gradual elegiac disintegration of this great song.

A simple but touching piano melody by Simen Valldal Johannessen introduces Riis’ finely judged emotional vocal in the final heart-breaking song Where Are You Now. Flute like keyboards float over a gradually building theme before Riis emotively illustrates this emotional song with a glistening, gliding guitar solo. The song and album finishes as Riis’ fragile vocals lead to the simple stark beauty of the opening piano motif. Heart break seldom sounds so beautiful.

There will be inevitable comparisons by some to later Pink Floyd, and fans of that band will find much to admire and touch them in this album. Sonically the production is perfect – this drips with feeling and atmosphere. Some of the songs would also not sound out of place on an Airbag album, which is inevitable considering Riis’ main role in that band. However, there is much more to ‘Forever Comes to an End’ than a Floyd pastiche or just an Airbag album by another name. Riis has really put his heart on the line on this release and such emotion exudes from the imaginative music and heartfelt lyrics on this intensely personal album.

Will this album save your life?

Very probably not, but like an Airbag ‘Forever Comes to an End’ may very well stop you getting a headache (!!) and will certainly help you deal with the collisions and impacts of what life throws at us.

(Photos of Bjørn by Anita Stostad)

Released 19th May 2017

Order ‘Forever Comes To An End direct from the artist (Europe)

Order ‘Forever Comes To AN End from Burning Shed (UK)

Review – Airbag – Disconnected – by Progradar

“To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.” – Robert Schumann

“Mournful and yet grand is the destiny of the artist.” – Franz Liszt

I like music that is written with love and dedication, not music that is written for the sole purpose of making some fat cats rich. I love music that has meaning, substance and aspiration, that has come from deep in the heart and soul of the artists creating it.

Music moves me, succors me and mirrors my life through good and bad. I would be fair to say that, if it wasn’t for music, I wouldn’t be the rounded person I am today (no sniggering at the back thank you!).

There are certain bands that have delivered a new piece of wonder at exactly the right time, just when I need it to get through a difficult period. One of those was the Norwegian progressive rock band Airbag when they released their 2013 album ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’.

Their music is perhaps best described as scenic, epic rock or, as legendary Classic Rock Magazine said: “Reminiscent of a late-nite, laid-back Pink Floyd”. However you look at it, that record helped me immensely and I went on to say in my review:

“My life’s journey through the world of music has often been enjoyable and I have ploughed many depths and crested many rises over the years whilst searching for the music I love. I can honestly say that it is not often where I am moved to call a piece of music near perfection or feel that it has had an actual impact on my life but, in Airbag’s The Greatest Show on Earth, both those statements ring very true.”

So, it won’t be difficult for you to imagine my interest being exceedingly piqued when I was notified of a new album coming from this amazing band in 2016…

Airbag was formed in 2004 by 5 class mates from Oslo, Bjørn Riis (lead guitar), Asle Tostrup (lead vocals & rhythm guitar), Jørgen Hagen (keyboards), Anders Hovdan (bass) and Henrik Fossum (drums). The band released 3 EPs over the next 4 years before 2009 saw the release of ‘Identity’, the album consisting, mainly, of tracks released on 2 of the EPs.

The further release of 2011’s ‘All Rights Removed’ saw the band gain a solid following and reputation among both fans and the press which was cemented by their most successful release to date, the previously mentioned ‘Greatest Show On Earth’. Airbag has also become a solid live-act playing at several major festivals and as support and in double-bills with bands like Marillion, Anathema, Pineapple Thief, Riverside, RPWL and Gazpacho.

Of the new album the band said:

“‘Disconnected’ features six songs reflecting on the theme of alienation between the individual and society, what society expects from us as individuals, and our resultant failure to live up to those expectations. Each of the six compositions depicts the state of feeling on ‘the outside’ and out of touch with oneself and those around us.

Musically, we’ve explored new sounds and ventured deeper into creating soundscapes, textures and dramatic arrangements.”

(Photo by Anne-Marie Forker.)

Opening track Killer sounds very U2 like with the chiming guitar riff and metronomic drums driving it along, illusive keyboards adding a sophisticated backdrop. Bjørn Riis’ guitar is subtle in its delivery, stylish and urbane before Asle Tostrup’s instantly recognisable voice takes up the story. Full of emotion and sentiment, it washes over you with its velveteen aura. I find myself immediately drawn into this smart and urbane soundscape, enticed by the smooth brilliance of the music. Bjørn delivers a gorgeous solo, full of pent up passion and elation, that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck before the track segues into an instrumental section of depth and empathy that transfixes you on the spot. Anders Hovdan and Henrik Fossum provide a rhythm section par-excellence, unobtrusive and yet paramount to Airbag’s signature sound and the dynamic and powerful close to the track is superb with Bjørn’s spine tingling guitar hypnotising you.

Broken begins in a much more subdued fashion, a lonely acoustic guitar providing the plaintive, sparse soundtrack. It is quite mesmerising and that feeling intensifies as Asle’s wistfully mournful voice joins the fray. A wandering guitar note and delicate drums join with Jørgen’s ghostly keyboards to paint a refined scene before you. The tempo increases and the guitar seems to cry a lament before the vocals add a real heartfelt timbre to this rarefied song. I sat myself down in near darkness with my headphones on and a glass of red wine to listen to this track and it suited the mood perfectly, sombre and contemplative. The unhurried grace and delicate wonder that this track imbues leaves you caught in a moment, unable and unwilling to move on, as Bjørn’s dreamy yet mournful and meditative guitar takes centre stage. Seven minutes of pure grace comes to a somber close and you let the silence envelop you, secure in your solitude.

Darkly mysterious sounds open Slave in an enigmatic and cryptic fashion. A slow building and slow burning introduction that puts you on edge before Asle’s vocals add an even more secretive edge to proceedings. A deliciously cabalistic guitar tone from Bjørn sets your teeth on edge and the slow, monotonous nature of the drums does nothing to calm the nerves. Like a supine irresistible force this song continues to seduce your darker side and drag you into its open arms, enslaving your body and soul. The deviant wandering guitar spirals around your mind, indoctrinating you with its hidden mantra leaving you unsettled and yet oddly satisfied. You wouldn’t willingly invite it into your embrace but are strangely comforted when you do.

A nostalgic and nomadic tone envelops the opening to Sleepwalker, unhurried and stress free, the delicate acoustic guitar and lush keys add to the artful drums and bass to provide a perfect backing to Asle’s humble and unpretentious voice to enshroud everything with a feeling of calm and composed serenity. Periodically the song blossoms with the power of the understated guitar adding sheen to the earnest vocals, a perfect counterpoint. Once again Bjørn lavishes a truly emotive guitar solo upon us, one that seems to flood your very being with its passion and fervour and the track closes out with a composed and unruffled ending.

Disconnected is the longest track on the album and this title track is full of complexity, elegance and composure. The introduction leaves an aura of anticipation before the tentative vocals increase the expectancy. A compelling and persuasive chorus adds a further note of desire and hunger as this deeply perceptive and profound song reveals its hidden depths and convoluted layers. Every musician is on top form but Bjørn seems to give his guitar a life of its own as it entrances and entices with its rapturous delights. This marvelous musical mosaic takes you on a journey of enlightenment and discovery where you find something new and different at every turn. The final guitar solo is bewitching and addictive with every note and you are left with a massive feeling of fulfillment when this stunning song finally comes to a close.

The final track on the album, Returned, seems to take Steven Wilson at his best and improve on it. A really beautiful melody with jangling guitars and a dreamlike aura, it has an inherent nostalgic finesse and celestial allure to it. The vocals are heartfelt and sincere and the music just seems to wash over you to leave you in a state of hushed tranquility and peacefulness. This is songwriting that moves you and affects your very being and is a wonderful way to close out this outstanding musical release.

Once again Airbag have produced a collection of songs that have moved me to my very core. Every word they write has an inherent meaning and every note is in the perfect place. This is music for the soul that has come from the soul and, as such, will stay with you forever. A complex, absorbing and enthralling fifty minutes that you must have in your life as it will be so better for it.

Released 10th June 2016.

Pre-order ‘Disconnected’ from Airbag

https://soundcloud.com/karisma-records/1-killer

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