I’m a big fan of Interpol and have always been inclined to check out their solo work or other work outside of the band. I’ve heard about how lead singer Paul Banks has had a hand in various projects and some of them were… interesting to say the least (a collaboration with Wu Tang member? Sure why not). But they never were able to stand up to the band’s discography and it may be because that I wasn’t entirely familiar with the different music realms that he decided to focus into.
However, I was esepcially excited to learn that, Daniel Kessler, the lead guitarist of the band had delved into a genre that I was familiar with and would say is much more easily-digestable for me as a listenner. His ambient/atmospheric project with fellow sound designer Joseph Fraioli (someone who I’ve yet to familiarise myself with), was honestly something I needed during this trying time. I wanted to listen to something that was along the lines of those “relaxing rain sounds” videos on YouTube but with a bit more thought put into it.
As I was immersing myself into the headspace of the album, I realised there is an extreme vastness to the sound that I think is very hard to achieve (the only other song I think comes close to that feeling is Hans Zimmer’s and Radiohead’s “Ocean Blue”, but I’ll admit that my knowledge on atmospheric projects are limited). Big Noble managed to layer their music with an echo, that when combined with the intricate sounds of everyday electronics that have been composed into the song with meticulous intent, and combined with Kessler’s signature guitar work, it lets you imagine what it might feel like to be basically Sandra Bullock in that movie Gravity – being simultaneously wonderstruck and terrified of space.
The album is an exact definition of atmospheric, it is light, celestial and there’s that feeling where you know how the vastness of space engulfs you because it is the epitome of infinity? That’s what First Light achieves by encompassing you in what feels like a journey. You bob along on a cyberpunk ship like those in Treasure Planet and you sit in awe at the scale of the universe. It’s hard to pinpoint this ambient album to just being merely calming or relaxing, it pushes you forward with an urgency at times, congratulating you for your triumph of just moving through the motions of life, because that itself is sometimes a pretty difficult thing to do.
cellar door opens 