A beautifully hazy, almost angelic, collection of songs was released by Ernest Aines. His latest album is called ‘Spiral Bound’ and counts ten captivating songs. His voice shines powerfully and beautifully on the album, being its main focal point. ‘Spiral Bound’ introduces itself through beautifully fragile ‘Pixels’, and only grows from there!
Ernest Aines’ sound is a natural sounding one, a soft and enticing, heartfelt one. With ‘Rigged Games’ being a great example of a warm and contemplating song with beautiful vocals in its midst. Its subtle soundscape is well-rounded and brings a lot of colour to this artist’s music vocabulary. ‘Spiral Bound’ is the Melbourne-based singer songwriter’s debut and it is a stunning one at that!
On ‘So Far’ we hear a more uplifting, almost summery sound, that shows Aines’ versatility. A colourful and almost regal sound unveils itself on ‘Lady in Waiting’, the fact that this is such a colourful album, an ever-evolving palette, stems from the amount of time, studios, and engineers it has taken for the album to be finished. It took six studios and engineers, due to constraints of covid and the restrictions that came with it, for the album to be finalised. The amount of eyes and ears that were laid upon the album also give it its strength, sounding like a buffet with a bite for everyone. On ‘Locked in a Cage’ we hear beautifully soulful vocals a la Belgium/ Egyptian-singer Tamino who has been compared to Jeff Buckley oh so many times, a comparison we are happy to make here as well.
‘Locked in a Cage’ might be our favourite, pensive alternative pop song with a softly thumping beat, and shimmering guitar lines dressing up gorgeous vocals. The songs on the album are a journey through the folk pop genre, including hints of Americana, atmospheric folk pop and a medieval-style gem in aforementioned ‘Lady in Waiting’. At the heart of this album is a wish and a hope that Aines’ songs help and connect its listeners. This soul-stirring connection of songs is a comforting one and a welcome breather from busy everyday life. Ernest Aines does with his music we wish every artist would have at the heart of their creations; a breath of fresh air, a distraction, something so beautiful we have to tell ourselves to not forget to keep breathing while listening.
‘I Won’t Take Your Honesty Away’ is a good example of a song that made us listen in a trance-like state, feeling the world around us slowly fade away. The album’s closing statement is ‘Tail Tale’, the smallest and most subtle folk song of them all. On ‘Spiral Bound’, Ernest Aines shows himself, naked, without frills, and beautifully personal.
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