Aurora’s deeply evocative instrumentals combine with spectacular vocal dramatics to create a unique album with a tale to tell. She meshes the folk narrative of First Aid Kit with the experimental resonances of Bjork and the magical imagery of Asgeir. When listening to All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend Aurora takes you on an emotional journey.
The album opens strongly with ‘Runaway’ in which the atmospheric bass and deep chorals remind me of Enya. ‘Conqueror’ has a lighthearted clapping rhythm that is upbeat and poppy. ‘Running With the Wolves’ packs a lot of punch and gets stuck in your head.
The mood slows down again with the relaxing harmonies, pulsing beat and soothing vocals of ‘Lucky’. The lyrics in ‘Winter Bird’ are transportive, evoking eerie images of wild, untamed forests.
The album gradually slows down with ‘I Went Too Far’. The vocals remind me of The Chorrs. Dark lyrics contrast with upbeat melodies; ‘standing in my blood, it was a taste of bittersweet’. With it’s soothing, sparse instrumentals, ‘Through the Eyes of a Child’ sounds like a child’s nursery rhyme. ‘Warrior’ beats and drops with syncopated rhythms and sharp lyrics. In this track the vocal acrobatics of Aurora stand out.
My favourite song on this album is ‘Murder Song (5,4,3,2,1)’. This perversion of a love song tells the twisted tale of the protagonist being murdered by her lover. ‘Home’ intertwines harmonies and chorals with a deep bass.
Aurora brings it back to the dark and otherworldly with ‘Under the Water’ and ‘Black Water Lilies’ in which the use of the synth and sinister lyrics have an ethereal effect.
‘Half the World Away’ takes a step back from the mood before – washing away the supernatural world Aurora has spun around her listener.
Aurora closes off the album with a few juicy tidbits and covers. An acoustic cover of Oasis’ ‘Half the World Away’, an acoustic rendition of ‘Murder Song’ and ‘Nature Boy’ and a remix of ‘Running With the Wolves’.
There was not a single song on this album that I could skip past as ordinary, every single one is essential to telling Aurora’s story. I could listen to this album over and over again. It is currently available for download.
Rating: ★★★★★
All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend is available now from iTunes and on Spotify.
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