Phoebe Rings – Aseurai (Carpark Records)
There’s something otherworldly about Phoebe Rings’ debut album: a somewhat mysterious title and a sound as transporting as the band’s name suggests. And maybe it’s just what we need in these times.
Named for Saturn’s outermost rings, Phoebe Rings has grown from the personal project of lead singer and songwriter Crystal Choi whose dream pop sensibilities reach back into K-pop of the land of her birth.
Whereas the six songs on their first offering (an eponymous EP released last October) were very much Choi compositions, Aseurai finds the band morphing from support crew for Crystal’s project into a fully gelled band. “The broth is richer with more cooks in the kitchen” she says in the publicity notes. Other ingredients? Alex Freer (Tiny Ruins, AC Freazy) on percussion/drums, Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent on guitar and synths, and Benjamin Locke on bass.
With this album the band feels like a solid integrated unit. Yearning, swirling sounds with, at times, danceable grooves.
They played their first gig in 2020, Choi a graduate of jazz school and all four having been in the University of Auckland’s music programme. In a significant vote of confidence, they’ve been signed to US label Carpark Records. Connecting into the dream pop lineage in which bands like Beach House loom large, this long-player stetches out the pleasure of being enveloped by the languid beauty of their songs.
The opener is the title track Aseurai, its meaning in Korean alluding to something and somewhere atmospheric, elusive and perhaps both ineffable and disappearing. Swirling synths and a breeziness of vocals pervade.
Hints of the Japanese ‘city pop’ sensibility infuse the tracks along with other retro influences like disco (especially on Locke’s Get Up with the mental wellbeing themed lyrics (Well, I’ve been keeping still for days/My body’s like some phrase I don’t remember..).
Mandarin Tree is a particularly intriguing track. Cherry blossom juxtaposed with empty houses and a subtext of the quest for a place to call home in unforgiving housing market (Walking the path to King Street/I wonder how long I’m gonna live here?). The light and breezy vibe betrays a more ominous theme. A dreamier take on the nightmare of gentrification to sit alongside Anthonie Tonnon’s ironic Marion Bates Realty.
A very different sound to our other prominent purveyors of dreamy compositions: French for Rabbits. Ethereal vocals and mysterious themes are common characteristics, but Aseura has a firmly pop rather than folk sensibility.
Not a Necessity is exquisite: sounds that are delicate but never fragile. Playground Song opens with gently plucked acoustic guitar. At 81 seconds, Blue Butterfly is a fleeting moment of a track; Crystal’s layered harmonies end as suddenly as a butterfly’s brief life. Goodnight, the collection’s closing track, is an almost childlike lullaby. Deliberate keyboard strokes and repeated persuasive farewells of goodnight with lush strings create ambience. Soothing, as music sometimes needs to be in this troubled and divided world. A balm for jangled spirits.
The group will be soon touring North America with The Beths. Their cosmopolitan flavour promises to widen their audience, though translating such a richly produced brew onto the stage may be challenging.
Ten songs in a 35 minute collection. Deliciously dished up sonic tastiness. Replete with yearning, ambience and gentleness. Superb musicianship held together by Crystal Choi’s silky-smooth voice and superb arrangements.
An exquisite offering to savour again and again.
Robin Kearns
Phoebe Rings – Aseurai out Now via Carpark Records
