Glasgow-born, Gothenburg-based artist Alastair Macduff entwines dream-pop with jazz inflections and glistening piano on “The time before us,” the first single from his forthcoming debut solo album Kåtebol. Inspired by the Swedish backwoods where the record was made, the song carries a hazy sense of remembrance, evoking a half-forgotten story rooted in the landscape of a small western Swedish hamlet.
An illuminated, effervescent charm flows throughout the track, guided by a consistently twinkling element that lingers enjoyably. A warming swell of strings quickly accompanies the frolicking vibrancy, while gentle washes of percussion ease in as the first minute continues to beautifully progress. “No looking back now,” a gorgeous vocal opening unveils thereafter, met by lush orchestral-friendly textures, pit-pattering rhythms, and lovely touches of keys. A beautiful sense of momentum is artfully set into motion.
“The years they fell away so fast,” the lyrics envelop with introspective appeal around the midpoint, furthered by the “grass growing…” observational entrancement. A multi-layered harmonic blissfulness takes hold in the track’s final minute, where various layers of voice and shimmering keys delight in their melodically luminous qualities. “The time before us” is a thoroughly compelling track from Alastair Macduff, whose ability to craft inventive, atmospherically memorable dream-pop gems is on full display here.
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This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
