Soft Fall
- Sun Airway
- Band Name: Sun Airway
- Record Label: Dead Oceans Records
- Release Date: Oct 2, 2012
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Oct 2, 201270While this is a remarkably process-oriented album, Soft Fall is also some of Barthmus' most engaging work, especially on the tracks where tight song structures give form and contrast to his grandiose tendencies.
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Oct 2, 201280Sun Airway may be losing some of its psychedelic characteristics that attracted many of its original fans, but the new sounds allow its lyrical creativity and musical experimentation to grow without confinement.
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Oct 16, 201260While there is more focus to the classically tinged electro-pop songwriting on Soft Fall than their last album (2010′s Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier), it shows up in moments, and disappears entirely at others.
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Oct 15, 201260Good rather than great, and enjoyable if rarely fully captivating, what's clear is that Barthmus has a talent both as a producer, arranger and writer that could well pay dividends a couple of records down the line.
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Oct 2, 201274The electronic-pop of Jon Barthmus once again brings together the upbeat pop and whimsical electronic orchestration that made Nocturne of Exploded Crystal Chandelier such a dynamic debut.
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Oct 10, 201275The album's first half explores the same musical territories as Nocturne--the chiming euphony of a hundred things happening at once, the guileless melodic patterns that wander up the scale and back--but it does so in lifted fog. [No. 92, p.59]
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Oct 2, 201280He's combined a sparkly and woozy aesthetic with killer melodies to create a cohesive and fun winning formula.
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Oct 3, 201280Sun Airway conducts Soft Fall with a unique command, never straying from its drifting atmosphere even as it continually delivers a batch of catchy, highly replayable songs.
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Oct 3, 201273Soft Fall just works, whether as a dazzling display of sumptuous synthetic ambience, rich, romantic pop, and quite a few points in between.
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Nov 21, 201260The album's closing songs blur into a somewhat too-cushioned landing. [Dec 2012, p.112]
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Oct 9, 201275Glossy and palatable, but also decidedly sophisticated.
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Nov 27, 201275They manage to avoid toppling over on themselves, due to support from three instrumental pieces: "Activity 1-3," whose tasteful cinematic touches buttress much of the material.