Label: Independent

Web site: www.aurelienatkins.com

Release Date: November 2007

Aurelien Atkins- Beyond Words
Matthew Ralph

One cool thing about instrumental music is the way it can be incorporated into your every day life. Whether you are hard at work in the office, going for a walk or going down for a nap, music with little to no singing, if done right, can act as a chameleon.

Since receiving a copy of French artist Aurelien Atkins' "Beyond Words"� record "par avion"� a few weeks ago, I've let it play repeatedly as background to ordinary things as writing and editing in the office, waiting for the bus stop and walking to the dentist office.

Simple and straight-forward in structure and form, Atkins' music blends droning dance beats with atmospheric piano and orchestral sounds in a way that brings to mind a couple of Aphex Twin and Boards of Canada cassettes I used to keep in my car for my more contemplative moments on long car trips.

Mixing moods in what could perhaps best be described as joyful melancholy, Atkins crafts a soundtrack that could just as easily be backing the spitfire of a hip-hop/spoken word performer as it could a tortured ballad crooner. That recipe is probably what ultimately earns Atkins more than a dismissal as little more than a guy making repetitive music with his computer somewhere in France.

The reoccurring beats and repetitious layered sounds of the keyboard, as I've discovered in recent weeks, do serve a valid purpose, bathing the listener with hypnotically hopeful sounds perfect for breaking up the monotony of the every day, whatever it happens to be in whatever the particular moment you are hitting the play button.

posted [05.19.08]

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