The first image of Nocturne is two snowflakes adrift on the ocean under moonlight, to indirectly quote singer Jon Barthmus. The image of the lone snowflakes is vast while the glow of the moonlight reflected off the water can actually be heard and felt as warmth within this album. The moon orbits these songs with ever-present waves of angelic undertones and glistening chirps of percussion.
The album opens with the distant and dreamy “Infinity”, which builds into a gossamer mural of sound depicting the snowflakes on the ocean. The album flows effortlessly from song to song, picking up speed on “American West”, a song that sounds as if Julian Cassablancas’ electronic experimentation happened while with The Strokes instead of solo.
The highpoint of the album is centered around the interrelated songs “Oh, Naoko” and “Waiting On You” that are both based on the book “Norwegian Wood” by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. The novel has an air of nostalgia that captures a tragic love story involving the “beautiful yet emotionally troubled” Naoko. These songs again manage to evoke emotional complexity by utilizing delicate, bouncing percussion, ethereal melodic atmosphere and declaratory narration by Barthmus. While Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier manages to retain a comforting feeling throughout, there are songs that distinguish themselves and prevent the record from bleeding together. This is the case with the bombastic “Shared Piano”that is built on a frantic, staccato piano sample and ebbing vocal clip. The lyrics are witty and imagistic and the music is reminiscent of a more sprawling M83. The album comes to a somewhat cacophonous close with “Five Years” which grows into a collage of motifs before drifting away into silence.
Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier succeeds in its balance. The emotion pulls at heartstrings but never overwhelms with sentimentality. The beautifully constructed melodies avoid pop clichés by wrapping themselves in intricate sonic blankets. Sun Airway created an extremely focused album that harnesses a tranquil harmony of lush atmosphere and directed song crafting. The album delivers and shows more than a bit of promise for this young project. I expect them to be spending plenty of time in the skies in the near future. You can purchase Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier by Sun Airway via Dead Oceans here. – Adam G.
Put the Days Away by Sun Airway