Avid music listeners have a natural tendency to place the various artists/bands they listen to into different categories depending on what they sound like.
Usually, these impressions are formed after listening to a complete body of work — an album or an EP. This was certainly my experience after listening to the debut album by Andrew Ross’ project BNDSRVNT.
After listening to the 2019 album, Response, I felt that I had a solid grasp of what to expect from this project — emotive bedroom pop with a dreamy slant. Although night seasons retains most of these emotional elements, it is a very different album sonically.
‘time’ kicks this album off. It’s a slow builder, with an ethereal background and a repetitive lick on the keys. Lyrically, it is quite hopeful in its disposition as Ross sings, “…we’ll be alright, we’ll be just fine, give it some time…” and this sets the emotional tone for the rest of the album.
The title track, ‘night seasons’ is a reminder of the assurance we have from God to always be with us even through the darkest times. There’s a perpetual drone element to this song that gives it a sense of longing and desperation while still managing to sound calming and peaceful.
After this, the album shifts gears and turns into a 10-track collection of piano instrumental songs. Still, this description may be an oversimplification and would be doing the rest of this album a bit of a disservice.
It’s quite clear that there is a method to the madness here, as Ross does his best to capture various textures, feels and moods that represent different stages of the journey from nighttime to morning. Among these tracks, there are a few that stand out to me.
‘burn/bright’ is a tune that resembles its name with short colourful bursts broken up by imperfect breaks. ‘blue hour’ has a contrasting nature as bright high notes juxtapose deep dark notes to create an oddly unsettling feel.
‘morning light’ is a hopeful tune while the background voices on the final track, ‘waking up’, gives the listener a feeling of the start of the day’s activities.
night seasons is an interesting project because the things that work really well for it, might also be the things that work against it. It’s quite raw and unprocessed in its approach and this is evident in every aspect of the album —composition and production alike.
On one hand, this means that this album could have been better in many aspects and the flaws are not hidden. On the other hand, this approach fits into the theme of vulnerability and hope that this album clearly seeks to pass across.
For me, it’s the beauty in its imperfections that makes this album a treasure trove and I can’t wait to hear what’s next from BNDSRVNT.
Tags: Ambient Pop, Piano, Instrumentals
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That’s it for today.
Until next time.
Keep listening!