Airbus - 2021 - You

(44:08; Spira Records)

Track list:
1. Safer (2:22)
2. I (3:06)
3. If There’s An Angel (3:18)
4. Alone Again (2:04)
5. Thicker (5:59)
6. You (2:36)
7. Choke 3:14)
8. Sometimes (2:16)
9. Nothing’s For Free (3:22)
10. Save Yourself (4:09)
11. Get Away (1:59)
12. Lazy (4:01)
13. The Ghost (5:42)

Line-up:
Nick Davidge - vocals, guitars
James Childs - guitars, vocals
Simon Hedges - bass
Chris Fielden - drums


UK band Airbus, currently based in the US according to the press release that followed this album, had their first span of life lasting from the late 1980's until the band went into a state of hiatus sometimes in the early stages of the millennium. The band is back at it, and this fall they released the album "You" through the label Spira Records, the third full length album by Airbus so far.

It is an interesting blend of material this album has to offer, and when reading that the material here was recorded in the middle of the 1990's a lot of the variation makes perfect sense too, as the music at hand here doesn't really sound like anything you'd expect from a band active in 2021.

For starters a lot of the songs have a slight post-punk spirit to them, with staccato riff and rhythm details driving the songs onward. The vocals can at times have a more detached feel to them however, and depending on the backdrop of the songs associations towards both grunge and indie rock similar to R.E.M. becomes a part of the totality too. While many of the songs feature sections with the aforementioned post-punk vibes to them, underpinnings of garage rock and occasional slight details with more of a noise rock orientation is a part of the totality here, and additionally quite a few of the songs will feature more or less subtle psychedelic details at some point or other as well. A detail of possible note is that Airbus takes a slight left turn towards the end of the album for a more purebred punk song as well, expanding an already broad canvas just a little bit more.

Hence this is a production that is a bit all over the place in terms of elements applied, used and explored in the individual songs, and presumably most listeners will find that tags such as indie rock or alternative rock will be the best manner in which to summarize the music at hand here. I wouldn't be all that surprised if both terms were used by some when it comes to that.

Besides the music referencing quite a few types of rock music popular around the time of the recordings, the quality of these recordings strikes me as fairly typical of the era too: There's just a 90's indie rock flavor to the mix and production here, and it appears to have been a deliberate choice to preserve that spirit from the original recordings of this material. Kind of emphasizing the archival aspects of this production if you like. A matter that, presumably, will please the old fans of the band, as I assume this is in line with the sound of the material they released back in the day.

Besides existing fans of Airbus, that presumably are well aware of this album already, those with a firm interest in a more expressive variety of mid 90's indie and alternative rock strikes me as the perfect audience for this production, and then in particular those who love and cherish artists that maintain the sound and the spirit of those types of music from that particular era.  

Olav M. Björnsen, September 2021

Links:
http://www.airbusmusic.com/