Ålesund - 'Never Enough'
Bristol alt-pop outfit Ålesund balance out the hopeful longing of April release ‘Never Enough’ with their triumphant declaration ‘Rode Off Into The Sun’
A worthy confession I must first make is that Ålesund, the up-and-coming Bristol alt-pop outfit, escaped my ears and attention until I took up the opportunity to review them. The name Ålesund kept cropping up continuously over the years from the mouths of friends who’d already discovered them, and from the words of publications I relied on for continued doses of new music when the Spotify algorithm failed me. And yet I couldn’t find the time to take an hour, and listen to them. Since acquainting myself with their catalogue of music, and more significantly where their new release ‘Rode Off Into The Sun’ fits into their established sound, my only regret is that it has taken me this long to now become a listener.
If you’re a fan of London Grammar, Florence and the Machine and Elder Island, you’ll love what this outfit has conjured up over the years. Their sound effortlessly glides from steady, reverb-washed soundscapes, to magnetic ballads, to hazy indie-pop head swingers. Listen to ‘Pins & Needles’, ‘Harry’s Song’, ‘All Hail to Your Queen’, ‘Dawn Chorus’ and ‘Pressure Point’ for a healthy dose of all three. In a sentence, their sound is a dense, sprawling tapestry of glittering instrumentations, ethereal vocalisations courtesy of frontwoman Alba Torriset, consistently punctuated with punchy indie rock riffs.
Turn to 2023, with the April release of ‘Never Enough’ and their most recent effort ‘Rode Off Into The Sun’, and you hear the outfit fully engaged in uncompromisingly uplifting music. I won’t spend too long on the former, however what I will say is this: ‘Never Enough’ is a song born to be heard on an open field festival at the absolute heights of summer, before a dense crowd of sun-drunk onlookers. It’s purely a song to be enjoyed and one you won’t do anything else with but that.
With ‘Rode Off Into The Sun’ you have that poignancy and broad-shouldered high spirit turned to maximum. Lyrically, Alba conceived the song as a reflection over a friend contending with a rough situation, and her decision to move in a positive direction away from and out of it. And it’s this unrelenting optimism, the continued insistence in “don’t weep for me...”, “don’t wait for me...I’m already gone”, lines that repeat triumphantly throughout the song, that form its foundation. Galloping drums and guitar propel the song forward, and pulsating synths and keys joyfully dance around verse and chorus. What you have with all components put together is a life affirming alt-pop track born out of moving ever forward in the face of grief or sadness with boundless, determined optimism. The song’s joy is purely infectious, and paired with ‘Never Enough’, you have a clearly defined musical trajectory for Ålesund going forward.
Ålesund has crafted a song around evolving positively from periods of negativity and hardship, and it partners brilliantly with ‘Never Enough’ as a duo of tracks that will make you smile without realising it. As precursors to their forthcoming EP, the two tracks should give listeners something to look forward to in the coming months. Keep a keen ear out for them.
Words by Harry Meenagh
