The Vernon Spring is the project of London-based producer and composer Sam Beste. A bit of a musical prodigy who was a pianist for Amy Winehouse as a teenager, Beste excels in meditative yet soulful piano playing and production. While Beste of The Vernon Spring has ben credited in countless collaborations and collaborative albums, Under A Familiar Sun is their second solo album under the moniker.
Under A Familiar Sun offers a tasteful blend of electronic production that creates a piece of work that has depth and soul. It is a lush listening experience full of exciting textures, with a through-line that guides you from track to track. There’s an overall calm quality to the music, and carefully selected spoken word samples sprinkle into the songs to create an atmosphere of gospel meets electronica. It feels like a cohesive piece of composition, carefully crafted with the whole vision in mind.
Some of the samples feature Beste “playing memories”—field recordings of his kids or unused bits of music from years ago. This creates an overall nostalgic feel, an ethereal touchpoint to another place in time. As Beste describes it, the resulting composition embodies an “interconnected nature of the micro and the macro, the personal and the political.”
From the opening track, “Norton,” we are introduced to all these merging soundscapes. The first seconds of the album really draw you in, preparing you for an auditory journey. The album features collaborations from Max Porter, Iko Niche, and aden. Songs like “Other Tongues” and “Requiem for a Reem” offer stripped-back piano-driven compositions reminiscent of a soft lullaby, while other tracks like “Under A Familiar Sun” and “Fume” merge these concepts with electronic production over the course of the song.
Throughout the album, lovely piano playing remains the heartbeat of every track, grounding the listener while simultaneously lifting them into Beste’s world of dreamlike reflection. Under A Familiar Sun is an exploration of sound, memory, and emotion, inviting listeners to lose themselves in its rich, beautifully textured landscapes.
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