Azeda Booth In Flesh Tones

I envision flesh tones to capacitate a spectrum of hues where red flanks in on the end. The red is for circumstance - it’s the blood underneath. That is, unless it is sunburn; meaning the skin is amidst a feverish reaction, unsure how to counter the beast of thermal energy that is grinning upon it.

But yes: red is for circumstance – meaning, at the very least, blushed cheeks. And it seems to be at this conception that Azeda Booth approach their debut full-length.

As an early eruption in Calgary’s recent throttle of musical promise, Azeda Booth create a swatch of sound like a plethora of atmospheric elements. While the first recorded inception of Azeda Booth was created solely by core members Jordon Hossack and Morgan Greenwood in 2005 (a skeletal version of the members present on In Flesh Tones), the resultant Mysterious Body EP exuded a brief but intoxicating introduction to their melding of stilted falsettos with melodic, ambient and frenetic electronics. In Flesh Tones is the EP’s successive testament; a conglomeration of electronic glitch, tempered drum pacing and (more) falsetto confessions that drift bashfully within the posture of jilted emotion.

In Flesh Tones quickly establishes its omnipresent mellifluous embrace with opener’s Ran and In Red - two tracks that meld together with the glue of one oscillating tone. From here, the record cyclically erupts with its delicate firework pop. Moving frantically but with a sensitive temperament, it propels itself with a mix of drum gallops, spacious guitar lines, ethereal electronic soundscapes and hyphened lyrical exhales. At times alluding the glitch of Fennesz and at times the trademark synth drones of Eno, it is the tandem between Jordon’s voice and Morgan’s electronic manifestations that are the album’s glue; albeit not without periodic vocal silences that leave Morgan to (seamlessly) thread an aural sandbox for thought imposition. By the time album closer Be It announces itself as the denouement, In Flesh Tones feels like a chapter in the embellishment of refurbished hope.

Having ripened with a palpable maturity, the dense aural soundscape and tonal fabric apparent on In Flesh Tones forms a record that is warm, textured and lush. Its temperate range and sensory aural aesthetic proves that it is built upward from the glitchy filigree and melancholic debris of its predecessor. A fuller, more measured affair, In Flesh Tones is an impeccable weaving of threads. As ethereal as it is emotionally palpable, it attests a binding force between the sensitivity of electronic composition and the emotion of us; the (very) human animal.

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Azeda Booth have just released a subsequent installment to their In Flesh Tones full-length, entitled Tubtrek. It's a digital only EP and is available for free download from their website, including four new tracks and four remixes from In Flesh Tones.