Following their eponymous debut EP for
Carpark Records by less than a year, the full-length
Aseurai finds Auckland outfit
Phoebe Rings writing together as a band for the first time.
Phoebe Rings was started as a solo project by Seoul, South Korea native
Crystal Choi, who came to New Zealand to study jazz piano. Upon graduating from music school, she quickly made fans of members of the bustling local indie community, and she recruited drummer
Alex Freer (
Tiny Ruins), bassist
Benjamin Locke (
Wax Chattels,
the Beths), and guitarist/synth player
Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent (
Princess Chelsea), all experienced bandmembers, sidemen, and, in some cases, solo artists in their own right. The resulting collaborative LP expands on
Choi's sweet, jazz-tinged dream pop with influences like disco, sophisti-pop, city pop, and more occasionally surfacing. A song that falls in the territory of both disco and sophisti-pop, ¿Get Up¿ features
Locke on lead vocals for the first time as he encourages us to get up and try again. Later, the dreamy ¿Static¿ is a sparkly duet between
Choi and
Locke with jazzy chord progressions, cushiony backing vocals, and lyrics about taking the long way home on city streets (¿I can walk alone with you¿). Elsewhere,
Kavanagh-Vincent is featured on the synthy, space age ¿Drifting,¿ which evokes the most yearning of
STRFKR's alternative dance output.
Choi handles most of the rest of the vocals on her own, and
Aseurai -- a Korean word for something that's out of reach but present in the atmosphere around you -- begins with her voice alone on a twinkling, Korean-language title track. Its orchestral indie pop takes inspiration from late-20th century Korean pop. Throughout the album, however, their affectionate universe is distinctive to them, with instruments like vibraphone, vintage keys, and strings providing spongy support for
Phoebe Rings' airy melodies and bedtime wishes upon stars. ~ Marcy Donelson
