Art by Klaus.
Electronic music is without a doubt my most listened-to genre. I love pounding beats, bleeps and bloops, fun effects, just all the cool stuff one can do with synthesizers and computers. I also love the opposite end of the spectrum, which is where we’re falling today – “soft” albums. These albums have intimacy and subtlety as a focus, often with limited effects and a majority of acoustic instrumentation. Some of them are even good for falling asleep to! But come with me on a journey where we explore some softer albums that truly benefit from a quiet room and uninterrupted listening.
Late Night Alumni - Echos
What if we explored LNA’s electric catalogue through the lens of acoustic arrangements? Now, they’re no stranger to including acoustic instruments in their music; that’s an aspect that has continually brought me back since I first heard them. But there’s a danceable energy throughout much of their discography that takes a back seat here. Instead, the lead vocalist (Becky Jean Williams) is brought front-and-center in an album of intimate moments.
In most albums, Williams is often a slightly reserved vocalist, twinkling and shining like a jewel as she is woven into arrangements. This album, on the other hand, has her standing squarely in the spotlight, microphone in hand. Confessional, pining, melancholic, overflowing with love – each song is a gentle stroll through an art gallery of moments, of emotions. Each vignette tells a story, and each story is told with the utmost sincerity.
Honestly, at first I thought this album was just “okay.” But as with many works that lean on subtlety and intimacy, it grew on me to the point where listening to it feels like a warm cup of tea on a chilly day. What a brilliant album.
If I had to pick two tracks to sample, listen to:
“You Can Be the One (Echos Mix)”
“Empty Streets (Echos Mix)”
Ólafur Arnalds - some kind of peace – piano reworks
Ólafur Arnalds’ discography is beautiful. Sometimes buzzing with energy, sometimes deeply haunting, he is a talented musician with a knack for bottling up emotions in his music. The original 2020 album “some kind of peace” is gorgeous in its own right, but 2022’s “piano reworks” comes in and explores the same tracks from the perspective of other remarkable musicians. As Arnalds told Apple Music, “…an album is just a snapshot of what the songs are at the time of recording.”
With that in mind, this second snapshot of these tracks, this collection of collaborations, shows that music is so much more than the studio albums and the concerts. It is a phenomenon that is simultaneously individualistic and uniting in its power. Not just because it sounds good or reaches into our hearts, but because it resonates with our very souls on a level that transcends explanation. And this album shows that resonance in how each artist reworked beautiful music to make more beautiful music.
If I had to pick two tracks to sample, listen to:
“Still / Sound – piano reworks”
“Back To The Sky – piano reworks”
William Fitzsimmons - Goodnight
If you’re not a fan of a man singing softly over an acoustic guitar, this might not be the album for you. But if that sounds up your alley, give this album a shot. Its title and its contents feel like lullabies, but with a broken heart or traumatic childhood experiences mixed in. The stripped-back instrumentation and the tender vocals, on the surface, are quite calming. But then you listen a little closer and your heart starts to break. That soft intimacy can be a little jarring, but let it take you somewhere. Let it guide you, whether it be to introspection or to sleep.
If I had to pick two tracks to sample, listen to:
“Everything Has Changed”
“Please Don’t Go”
Above & Beyond - Acoustic
How shocking: another album of electronic music brought to the acoustic realm! It’s almost as though I have a type… A little more seriously, this is a chance to listen to some electronic classics rearranged in a more classical style. There is still an undercurrent of electricity to these tracks, an energy and polish that was kept from their original versions. Perhaps the most “exciting” album on this list, while it won’t make you dance, it’ll still move you at times.
If I had to pick two tracks to sample, listen to:
“Satellite / Stealing Time”
“Making Plans”
Bonus Single: Ólafur Arnalds, Ella McRobb - and we’ll leave it there…
Another Ólafur Arnalds collaboration that has left me crying. Can I personally relate to the lyrics? No. But I can feel the emotions, I can hear each metaphorical brush stroke that went into building this song. “And it hurts, oh, it hurts so bad.”
