Azure Ray - As Above So Below

For their new six-track EP As Above So Below "we wanted it to be more like Azure Ray in an alternate universe," says Orenda Fink, “we wanted to go for something completely different.” For Fink and musical partner Maria Taylor, the new "universe" meant a dramatic overhaul of the duo's often dreamy stylistic mainstay. In the studio with producers Andy Lemaster and Fink's hubby Todd, atmospheric electronica became the focal point of the new songs' production, beats and blips gently bobbing on the surface of deep synthetic beds, organic instruments yielding to chilly technology. Fortunately on songs like the bleakly desolate "Unannounced" and wistful "Red Balloon" Fink and Taylor's airy vocals remain a warm enticement, often in odd opposition to the mostly plugged-in and sonically cluttered proceedings. It's not until well into the EP that the hymnal "The Heart Has Its Reasons" strips back the shiny veneer to expose welcome piano chords behind some celestial vocal harmonies. As Above So Below arrives September 4 via Saddle Creek.

Azure Ray - "The Heart Has Its Reasons" (from As Above So Below)

Azure Ray - "Scattered Like Leaves" (from As Above So Below)