Listening: Bandcamp
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I was in the listening party back when this was released in September but I just realized I forgot to post about it! aivi and surasshu’s first album, 2013’s The Black Box, ended up being a breakthrough hit, not just for them professionally but also as being a bedrock early work in the western musical sphere which would years later start calling itself “digital fusion.” It wasn’t the first chiptune + instruments album ever made, or even the first one on the label Ubiktune, but tonally it was unapologetically warm and gentle at a time when this kind of music was less commonly explored in this space than it is now, and that inspired a lot of folks, listeners and composers alike.
A lot has happened since then! They got famous for writing music for a cartoon! They got married! And they slowly snuck in time to put together a second album! Meanwhile is a pretty direct followup to The Black Box, so if you enjoyed the cozy, jazzy chiptune/piano sound of their first album, well here’s more for you! And if you haven’t heard their first album yet but like this one, well there’s more for you! The album is about the passage of time, which can be fast and exciting as you run toward the future, or slow and contemplative as a single moment lingers beneath the night sky. Beautiful, emotionally resonant stuff.
Recommended tracks:
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“Time Travel” has a fun break at 2:55 which seems like it’s evoking ticking clocks or metronomes
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“Interlude #3: Soft Moon Music” is one of the less (though not the least) lyrical tracks, with a lovely conversation between chiptune and piano at 1:09
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