Album Review: Celestial North – Otherworld

Celestial North has just released the etherial, pulsing and beautifully atmospheric new album ‘Otherworld’. A collection of tracks that dance between emotive dream-pop and inventive electronica, the album is a journey through haunting vocals and reverb heavy, hazy soundscapes.

Comparable to the likes of Portishead, Art School Girlfriend, Grimes and POLIÇA, Celestial North delivers some stunning moments across the 11 track release. From the pulsing bass, haunting whispery vocals and tribal beats of the albums opener and title track ‘Otherworld’, to the danceable, experimental electronic approach of ‘Restless Spirit’ and ‘When The Gods Dance’ which is instantly comparable to Jon Hopkins to the more organic moments such as ‘The Stitch’, the album offers a range of musicality and differing approaches to create a release with is captivating and inventive from start to finish.

Effortlessly cool with it’s pagan undertones and mystical aura, the album is an uneasy yet ultimately joyous listen.

One of the albums highlights ‘Olympic Skies’ offers a more concrete band sound, focusing on acoustic guitars, piano and a shuffling live drum beat to create a soundscape comparable to Feist or Arcade fire but still retaining the ambient electronic undertones that permeate through Celestial North’s music. The angelic, effortlessly captivating, melancholy drenched vocals guide you through the murky musical backdrop with a sense of purpose, offering subtle hooks and haunting high notes throughout.

Later in the album, ‘Nightswimming’ captures Celestial North and her most delicate and elegant on a retrospective beauty showcasing a shimmering blend of electronics, piano and gentle drums which gradually grow and swell under the poetic, heartfelt lead vocals.

A intricate, elegantly constructed and strikingly authentic creation,, ‘Otherworld’ truly delivers on it’s title, transporting you through Celestial North’s otherworldly alternative-electronic-come-dream-pop sound. Treading the line between beauty and accessibility and dark, avant tendencies, the balances itself beautifully, delivering what is ultimately an utterly engrossing etherial, dreamy experience.

Listen below: