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1. Trick of the Light
2. To Love is To Believe
3. Why Say Anything?
4. Ecstatic Light Transmission
5. Destination Paradise
6. Cloud Formations
7. The Bird That Hides Itself
8. Laughing in the Rain
RIYL - Talk Talk, Durutti Column, Felt, Hood, The The, The Cure
Aarktica's 10th studio album merges transcendent atmospheres with darkly danceable rhythms, orchestral strings, expansive analog synths and layers of modulated, tape-echo guitars. The result is an immersive sound that pays homage to classic darkwave and art-rock, with a hypnotic ambience and a lyrical embrace of the bittersweet.
A sense of wistful nostalgia is palpable throughout Ecstatic Lightsongs, which covers a vast sonic spectrum, even for an artist who has woven a seamless tapestry through myriad genre explorations over the course of his three-decade career. The hallmark of Aarktica's ambient melancholia remains, but here it’s built around a core of rhythmic elements and the addition of synthesizers, both of which have been largely eschewed on the artist's releases over the last decade.
“I envisioned this album to be a fusion of rhythm and ambience,” shares Aarktica’s Jon DeRosa. “I thought a lot about the way rhythm is used on albums like Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, where the drums hold a beautiful space that allows the musical elements to unfold freely, spaciously, and minimally at times.”
DeRosa's resonant baritone is also prominent on most of the album's 8 songs, taking us through lyrical themes of nostalgia, loss, and the desire for human and spiritual connection, with an optimism and hopefulness that leaves the door ajar for the light to get in.
"Many of these songs focus on the smallest elements of memory," says DeRosa. "How we remember the moonlight looking on someone's face. A passing conversation about cloud formations over coffee. I’m fascinated at how some seemingly trivial experiences stay with us forever and become significant pieces in our story.”
These themes are immediately apparent from the album opener "Trick of the Light," with its chiming guitar melodies against syncopated rhythms and soaring synths, and the introduction of Britt Warner, whose ethereal vocals accompany DeRosa on three tracks.
For the ambient lovers, the cosmic "Ecstatic Light Transmission" delights the aural palette with its granular synth tones against DeRosa's dying-cassette-tape guitar work, as well as "The Bird That Hides Itself," a mournful duet between he and cellist Henrik Meierkord.
In addition to Warner and Meierkord, joining DeRosa on this album are Mike Pride (drums), Lewis Pesacov (bass). The four-time Grammy nominated Pesacov also produced the album (except for “Why Say Anything?” produced by Charles Newman).
Just like sharing a mixtape of your favorite songs with a friend on a long night drive, DeRosa reaches back into his past to retrieve the most meaningful moments of memory — both musical and personal — to share with us on Ecstatic Lightsongs. In doing so, he invites us on this ride into his inner and aural world, one of beauty, mystery, melancholy and ecstatic celebration.
