Saturday, January 4, 2014

BOWANDAERO - 2013 - Endlessly Floating Home

Folk Pop
[FOR FREE]
<a href="http://bowandaero.bandcamp.com/"
Impressions
This is definitely refreshing. It hasn’t exactly been an ‘all to myself’ past couple of weeks lately, and this is perfect for unwinding… all of which I think is the desired purpose for a 6-track, 20 minute, sweet simmering release. Not simmering like a whiny tea kettle, but like a pot full of scented herbs lightly evaporating by water. Water evaporating herbs. Not physically understandable but still makes sense? Anyway, while there’s something discomforting and anxious about the name, Endlessly Floating Home, I thought this was very gentle and welcoming. Perhaps that’s the goal. The idea of home and what it means, somehow lost in transition.
But I will admit, Kamikaze Lovers is as simmering as it gets. It’s the featured track here and for good reason: it’s a high point but not too high. It’s romantic and cool; perfect for outdoor, backyard serenading. All you need is a good pair of headphones and 5 patient minutes to really feel all of the pleasantries of soft keyboard chords and soft vocals, which really doesn’t take much. The vocals were my favorite aspect of this release. They’re different, with a surprising amount of emotion in the same laid-back and docile delivery throughout most of the songs. The same goes for Bones, my favorite track here. To me, it resembles the Endlessly feature because of its sad, broken, and wistful tone.
Maybe after a couple of more full listens, below there’d be one more record awarded for such an enjoyable listen this gives, but my analysis demands more in the area of identity. These tracks aren’t strikingly capturing and can only be heard in all of their entirety for the most reward. Not just because of the simplicity of piano, acoustic guitar, and the occasional synth, but there wasn’t a true face to each song. To BOWANDAERO’s defense, the set is called Endlessly Floating Home, and the tracks would most likely resemble bubbles of haziness like memories (which they do in my opinion), but my suggestion remains. However, that’s as far as my constructive ear picks out.
Although I haven’t heard either of the original versions of the couple of covers done, I think it’s blameless to have them here because of how they make the project complete. But not as complete as the closer makes this feel. The closer is precious, and I’d honestly tell someone to listen to all of Endlessly Floating Home just to listen to the closer. This implication isn’t taking away from the rest of the songs, but Miss Nightsky is an absolute acoustic lullaby, and gets all of my stars. Overall, it's a relaxing listen.

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