Review: Real Murders - Music from the True Crime Series - Chris Wirsig

Written by Marilù Ciabattoni

Discovered via Musosoup

There’s always a first time for everything, and this is the first time I actually get to review a soundtrack. Pretty cool, right?

Chris Wirsig composed the soundtrack for the True Crime series titled Real Murders. As per the vibe of the TV show, the album is very mysterious and full of suspense, featuring climaxes, twists and turns throughout.

The first track, “Another Treason Found,” starts with this vibe: it sets the expectation that we’re going to be solving a murder and we cannot really trust anybody. “Twilight Road” features low piano notes with sort of work as percussions in and of themselves, while the background sounds do their thing and add to the sense of tension and discomfort.

“Investigation Report” features very interesting electronic effects, as well as ascending and descending climaxes, and also some nice winds in the background.

“Information Disarray” features blurred percussions that make it sound like the war is coming, sort of like war drums. We find a climax towards the beginning and end which nicely fits with the vibe.

“Trembling Eyes” features those distorted violin sounds that you often find in horror movies, which add to the drama of the action. I am trying to visualize the series thanks to this soundtrack and I find it very easy to do that.

“Feelings Strike” is a more unpredictable track since the music pauses and restarts quite often, until we get to a full stop at the end, signalling the end of the track. “Termination of Events” continues featuring these war drums that create so much suspense. “Jutter Symbol” is a more subtle track which features discrete yet highly effective electronic effects in the background. 

As we get to the end of the album, we feel the tension of the record increase to come to a memorable close. In “Stolen Memories” and “Getting Darker Inside,” the climaxes are quick yet strong and effective, while “Ghostly Rendition” closes the album with a nicely dark piano line.

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Review: Winds of Change - Allen Kai-Lang Yu

Written by Marilù Ciabattoni

Discovered via Musosoup

Taking after other talented pianists like Lang Lang and … Sakamoto, Allen Kai-Lang Yu takes us on a musical journey thanks to the delicate notes of his piano. The album is made of 12 talks, also very romantic and dreamy. We don’t really hear any other instruments and this allows the listener to focus on Yu’s raw talent. I feel like his playing is speaking to us, trying to tell us something: telling us a story, making us dance or simply helping us daydream.

After the first, very romantic “Whispers of the Wind,” thematically connected to the title of the album, we have “Tango Fantasia,” which is slightly catchier than the opening song. Then we continue with “Peoples and Traditions” and “A Fairy’s Tale,” which might as well be included in a Pixar, Disney or Dreamworks movie. I would very well see a story unfolding to Yu’s delicate piano notes.

“Cityscapes” reminds me of the collections that Chinese pianist Lang Lang put together, like New York Rhapsody. On the other end of the spectrum, “Pastoral River” makes me think of green fields and blue lakes with clear water, strongly contrasting with the chaotic rhythm of “Cityscapes.”

“A Joyful Ride” is, pretty much, what it sounds like: a simple, happy-go-lucky track that will definitely put a smile on your face. “A Mother’s Voice” is a lullaby meant to put you to sleep: it is lowkey and delicate and it goes really well after “A Joyful Ride.”

“Foggy Bay” is in minor key and we can hear the contrast from the previous two songs. “A Spiritual Walk” is a very intuitive track characterized by this meditative mood.

“Desert Gala” starts with a very danceable melody that later get elaborated over and over, becoming catchier and catchier. Lastly, “Leaves in the Wind” is a nice farewell from the album which nicely closes the project.

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Interview: Konseptualisera Samanhald Hvørsínamillum - Aggrasoppar

Written by Marilù Ciabattoni

Discovered via Musosoup

Starting their music project during the “worldwide slumber” which will go down in history as 2020, musician Ayphin reached out to Dada to produce some songs together, then another key player, Sóljudrongur, joined the collaboration which lasts to this day.

The trio has released two projects so far: ædrasoppar in 2020 and døgurdaslang in 2023 and a bunch of singles in between, from “ballast millum madkar” in 2022 to “búff & buffét” and “vit eru moyr” in the last year.

While their music has become more melodic, what stays the same is the passion for making and sharing more music on the World Wide Web. Make sure to find out more in this exclusive interview to the Icelandic band!

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How and when was the project born?

We started the project in the worldwide slumber which was 2020. Ayphin (me), AGGRASOPPAR member, had been making beats in his childhood home for a couple of years and needed vocals on them. I contacted Dada, and we started making some songs together. Sóljudrongur heard some of the songs by Ayphin and contacted him, interested in collaborating. When the virus hit, Sóljudrongur reached out to the other two and suggested that we merged all artists into this group we now know as AGGRASOPPAR. We went to a holiday cottage in Leynar (a small village) and recorded 20 songs. We released the self-referential album, æðrasoppar, in secrecy Christmas Eve 2020. So yeah, that’s how it started.

How has your music changed in the past few years?

The music has evolved with us. We released our debut album one-and-a-half years prior to our first concert. Playing the songs live brings a new life to them, as well as the newer songs. We did not have in mind, that one day we might play our music live, haha. 
Others have noticed a shift in the tone of the music, saying it is more melodic. There might be something in that, but that was not necessarily our intention, hahah. It says something about where we are, I guess, artistically and in life. 

Who inspired your music? Who are your biggest influences?

Our shared interest in poems is our biggest inspiration - that’s mostly how our process starts, us either citing our own poems or having writing exercises.
Musically, influences come from all over the place: Danny Brown, local folk legend Niels Midjord, Danish Kogekunst, Ella Fitzgerald, James Blake and Fiona Apple, just to name a few. As a group of three creative people, we inspire each other as well - within the group as well as work outside of AGGRASOPPAR.

Could you introduce your favourite singles you’ve released so far?

When we made ballast millum maðkar, we loved that track to death. We weren’t sure that we were ever going to top that. Our latest single KONSEPTUALISERA SAMANHALD HVØRSÍNAMILLUM is our new favourite, though. It feels like most of us. But the most fun to play live is búff & buffét; the back-and-forth verses between Ayphin and Sóljudrongur and Dada’s chaotic ramblings about how to make stuff. And it’s fun to see the crowd shout along every word.

How did you develop this style? Will you experiment with other genres in the future?

Flower-punk has been our go-to description of our music. Some sort of blend between the hippie movement and the punk movement. Playing the songs live, we showcase our vulnerability by shouting in faces in the crowd. 
And yeah, we’re trying not to stay in the same lane for too long. We might delve into other genres in entertainment as well as music in the future. 

Let’s talk about your latest release. What inspired it and how did it come to life?

The idea of it has been a longlasting dream of ours. The world you enter when you’re napping after lunch. Your dreams are more vivid when you’re full. Whether you are reminiscing about your first day in kindergarten, remembering your late grandfather or seeing all different kinds of mushrooms in your dreams - it all seems more real in your dreams with a full stomach.

Who produces your tracks? How do you choose which producers to work with? Do you have some dream producers you’d like to work with?

We produce our music ourselves. Ayphin is the fingers in the production, Dada and Sóljudrongur come with suggestions and thoughts. Jens L. Thomsen fleshes out the ideas with his mixing skills, and deserves a helluva lot of credit for our soundscape. Ragnar Finsson aka HORRSE co-produced anita slap in the face and peterplyssblús, as well as having additional guitar work in treo.
As far as dream producers, we would have loved to work with JPEGMAFIA. We loved his newest productions on the new Scaring The Hoes album with Danny Brown. Bonus pick would be Kristin Hayter. Her newest album Saved! as Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter is hauntingly beautiful.

Is music your main occupation at the moment? If not, how are you conciliating your day job with your music career?

Music is not our main occupation at the moment. We are working at the local record store, working in a youth club and taking a master's degree on our own. Hopefully one day we can do the music stuff full time.
But it can sometimes feel like a full-time job. So we’re trying to delegate all of our tasks evenly between us. Our full-time bosses understand, that we are musicians who need to travel a bit hahah, so it’s no big deal.

Have you ever been on tour? If not, would you like to embark on one? If yes, tell us about it.

We have kind of been on tour, but not like a continuous tour where we play several days in a row. We have been on The Great Escape in Brighton in England, the Spot Festival in Denmark, the Reeperbahn Festival in Germany and Iceland Airwaves in Iceland. In January we are going to the Netherlands for the Eurosonic Noorderslag, and in February we are going to Norway to play on Trondheim Calling. So if we’re speaking of a sporadic yearlong European tour, then yeah, we have!
It has been a blast, and sick to see people show up and being hyped and all. Sometimes they’ve laughed with us and our lyrics, even though they’re in Faroese. In Denmark, we experienced our first very own mosh pit, which was awesome! Sóljudrongur made an older man cry tears of joy in England as well, and it was beautiful. We’re hopeful that more moments like these come our way.

Who’s your dream feature?

Danny Brown would have been awesome. I don’t know if the Faroese and English crossover would make sense, but he would go off as he always does on features. Danish outfit Kogekunst would also be fire, as we’re all huge fans of theirs. If any of you are reading this, hit us up!

Where do you see yourself in one year as a band?

In a year we’ll have the second half of our current project døgurðaslang/MIDNÁTTARSANG released. We’ll be working on our new project. We are currently juggling on some new ideas. What the result will be, only God knows…

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