Artist: Aron Dahl
Title: Moth/Flame
Year Of Release: 2024
Label: Abstract Tits
Genre: Alternative, Indie Pop
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 00:39:14
Total Size: 189 mb
Tracklist:
01. Aron Dahl - Brief Encounters
02. Aron Dahl - Lock&Key
03. Aron Dahl - Ficken-3000
04. Aron Dahl - Heart, Head
05. Aron Dahl - Ghost
06. Aron Dahl - Psycho Train
07. Aron Dahl - Gorilla
08. Aron Dahl - The Palms
09. Aron Dahl, Lily Maase - Losing You
The moving new album from Aron Dahl, Moth/Flame consistently engages with an intimate, heart-on-sleeve delivery â capturing emotions through transformations of self and personal connections. A follow-up to 2018âs full-length Loosening Orionâs Belt, Moth/Flame compels with a palpable sense of yearning, within productions that enamor across both quaintly impactful synth-pop to the ghostly folk of âBrief Encountersâ and âGhost.â
Produced by Anders Bach, the new album reflects poignantly on evolving people and relationships, taking inspiration from Dahlâs own experiences. The creative process for Moth/Flame began shortly after Dahl came out as transgender, and themes of transformation persist in both an emotional and physical sense; the latter is conveyed especially in Dahlâs vocal tone, which dropped nearly two octaves across the nearly two years it took to record the release.
Opening track âBrief Encountersâ conveys a gripping intimacy within a swelling folk-forward mystique. Lyrical perspectives of a strangerâs embrace â âI was ready to put my clothes on and leave, but then you cooked for me and introduced me to your boyfriend,â â resonate, capturing the connection of others in a solemn world. âMy body revealed in their eyes,â the vocals let out, exuding themes of self-discovery and transformation, persisting artfully throughout Moth/Flame.
The subsequent âLock and Keyâ enthralls in its portrait of âsuffering and healing,â conveying lyrically into a title-bearing melodic impact; heartfelt strings and twangy guitars lovingly complement the bass-accompanied vocal hypnotics. The âhere we meet,â stirring is especially inviting, showing shades of Leonard Cohen in the introspective vocal tone â and continuing the themes apparent in âBrief Encounters,â specifically the power of companionship, even if temporary, in a tumult-filled journey through life.
Deriving its title from a legendary gay club in Berlin, âFicken 3000â engrosses in its portrayal of a relationshipâs ups-and-downs â from the heat of meeting and the night beyond, into doubts regarding the future. âStill there was a connection,â the vocals admit understated keys and pit-pattering percussion, following sporadic hot-and-cold natures of an initial connection. âA quiet tenderness holding us briefly,â furthers a sense of blissful mutual adoration, perhaps momentary though lovely all the same.
Dahl is also joined by a number of talented musicians on the release â including avant-jazz guitarists Lily Maase (Tyshawn Sorey) and Lars Bech Pilgaard, extreme metal bassist Leah Levinson (Agriculture), experimental drummer/improviser Tim Feeney, and sound artist/songwriter Pluto Bell. The concluding tracks on the album continue to showcase enveloping songwriting, from the plucky dreaminess of âGorillaâ to the nocturnal coming-to-terms folk appeal within âLosing You.â Moth/Flame enthralls in its emotively intimate lyricism and approachably melodic instrumentation.