Julia Svensson alias 'aircode' is a Swedish producer and sound designer based in London. In the past years Julia has been leisurely refining her signature out-there blend of gloomy yet elegant sound distinguished by an incorporation of slack piano tones and timid vocals intertwined with bleak samples and worn-out dub rhythm cameos. Since her first output via TT (fka Tobago Tracks) in 2019 she's been steadily releasing music via imprints like Alien Jams and Nostro Hood System, or just lowkey through her own bandcamp page. After helplessly drowning in her music since we first heard it, we are now more than honored to have the opportunity to present Julia's sophomore full-length album 'Surface Tension'.
Building on her past work, Surface Tension is an especially electrifying creation. Higher density sounds are gliding on an unfolded surface without ever being fully submerged, complementing each other into an enticing and immersive listen. With Julia's music, the long-depleted term 'sonic landscape' suddenly makes much of a sense. Captivating with it's well-measured approach, it draws an attentive listener into a world of intricate and finely nuanced compositions in which an unrushed precision and intuitive approach to writing can be clearly sensed.
“Surface tension tends to make a drop spherical, gravity tends to flatten a sessile drop and elongate a pendant drop, and the electric field typically elongates a drop along the direction of the field” - says science. Similar to the dichotomy of a liquid dripping process, Surface Tension inherently shifts into two distinct mood opposites. Straight from the beginning of the record a palpable tension can be felt, hinting at a series of inevitable plot twists that keep the listener submerging in its enthralling waves. While most of the tracks start with a calm before a storm, halfway through 'Slow Burn' or 'Dissimilar Liquids' Julia delves into the very depths of dank dubstep bass. Surface Tension weaves a vibrant narrative - at times a confluence of serene comprehension other times bordering on a pleasure of suffocating in its intensity.
'Surface Tension' video directed by Federico Barni:
www.nowness.com/story/aircode-surface-tension
released September 24, 2023
Written & produced by Julia Svensson
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