London-based Irish singer-songwriter Aural Air, also known as Laura Rai, is set to mesmerize audiences with her highly-anticipated EP Imagined Pastures. The 5-track offering from Aural Air, known for her ethereal and expansive guitar and vocal melodies, explores the complex identity and poetic essence of rural Ireland.
Describing the EP as “a collection of songs surrounding themes of mixed identity and the poetic dialogue and nature of rural Ireland. The songs aim to depict the pervasive opposition of the Atlantic sea with internal forces both musically and lyrically.”
Already making waves are the two singles released from the EP, Painted by Numbers and Karman Line. These tracks are imbued with a sense of nostalgia for lost people and places across generations and lifetimes. Night by Night, explores the debris of a past relationship in the face of future renewal, echoing Aural Air’s increasingly popular enigmatic and haunting dream-folk musical style.
Aural Air opens up about the creation of Night by Night, stating, “The melody became an affirmation that circled around my mind on loop, in defiance of everything I wanted to move on from. It felt natural to layer it with heaps of delay and modulation on the guitar, this created a sense of movement and warping of reflections into something new”.
Imagined Pastures offers an immersive sonic landscape, characterised by imaginative and distinct layers of electric guitar, mystical harmonies, and percussive textures. Recorded by Darragh Nolan at Asta Kalapa and funded by the Government of Ireland stimulus fund, this EP follows the success of Aural Air’s debut EP The Torpor of Minds in 2018.
As Aural Air continues to carve her unique niche in the musical landscape, her dream-folk magic is set to resonate far and wide.
Photos by Sarah Townsend
