A DAY AT THE BEACH

One thing I've got to say about Airbag is they are very consistent in their sound. Airbag is a great band from Norway. The band consists of Asle Tostrup on lead vocals keyboards and programming. Bjørn Riis on guitars keyboards and backing vocals and rounding out the group on drums is Henrik Fossum. Also, of interest playing bass on this album is Wobbler's Kristian Hultgren. Airbag offer atmospheric and expressive progressive rock. They often get compared to Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd. There's know really escaping that. Another big reason I really Airbag is because the band doesn't weigh us down with technique. Instead they bring emotional and sonic bliss to our ears. With a day at the beach the band has moved away ever so slightly from the guitar driven style of their past works. On this album Bjørn is present certainly but he's not the driving force musically I think the electronica element is probably the most present on this album than on any of their previous works and you will even notice that this is the very first thing you hear on the very first song Machines and Men. Throughout the album many of the melodies involve electronic loops as well so this often feels like it has a dozen musical layers making it feel lavish and very full. The album only has six songs but still reaches a bit over 47 minutes in length. for me personally that is the sweet spot for a length of an album. The band have released two singles / videos for the song's Machines and Men and Sunsets. Machines and Men is the opener and it takes a few seconds to get started. It is a great way to start the album and it is a definite favorite of mine. Sunsets is also wonderful having a little more gallop in its stride and I love the keys in the middle of the song. The album technically only has three more songs. the title track has two parts both of which sound great, but the second part is much more active sonically but at the same time is quite irritating I find. Into the unknown while a good song is interesting this song runs on for about 10 minutes but could have been shaved down to a four and a half minutes song. Megalomaniac ends the album I find this to be the track where Bjorn really shines and is most active and his vibrant guitars really steal the show. A day at the beach is another rich offering from Airbag. It has layers and layers of goodness and wholesomeness and maybe you could have predicted that from the little teddy bears with their heads in the sand. Obviously, the band seems to be rather politically motivated here and I bet you can guess their perspective just from the song titles.

Rating-82%

Recommended Tracks: Machines and Men & Sunsets