Alpha Romeo‘s new album Soft Collapse represents another successful collaboration between Jeremy Jones and Rodrigo Passannanti, fusing a talent for stirringly introspective atmospheres with a range of sounds rooted in ambient, chillwave, and downtempo threads. The album reflects the duo’s drive toward immersive, memory-evoking soundscapes — fond of hypnotic rhythms, wordless vocal elements, and heartrending instrumentation.
“Lucid Veil” is a consuming opener, moving with intrigue as a buzzing warmness ventures into a gorgeous, spacious vocal entrancement. Pit-pattering rhythms and sporadic easing-in textures continue with a cinematic sense of momentum, conjuring a sound both dreamy and grandiose in its range of lush vocal implementations, steady rhythms, and vibrant instrumentation. The ensuing “Shadow Flow” also excels in building from wordless vocal beauty into stirring rhythmic ruminations, being another testament to Alpha Romeo’s knack for climactically unveiling electronic soundscapes.
Another standout track, “Waves Remember” enthralls in its vivid, illuminated swell — progressing from ghostly vocal elements and subdued percussion into an exotic, flourishing instrumentation and subsequent culmination of powerful vocal layers. The album’s title track is a gem as well, especially in its use of a nocturnal synth pad in the background as playful rhythms conjoin into caressing hybrids of vocals and comforting brass-feeling instruments. Soft Collapse is a riveting overall success from Alpha Romeo, who shows no shortage of soundscape-rich evolutions and emotional ferocity within the album’s productions.
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We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
