Sober is Aquilo’s first release since 2018. The duo, made up of Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher have spent two years creating and developing their new batch of raw material.

They have both spent time enhancing a sound that they hope makes them stand out from the rest, as two years away from releasing new material could be considered a risk. With an impressive following on Spotify, the new tracks have a hungry audience and Sober will not disappoint their fans. 

Mystical is how I would describe the entrance to the song, with ethereal synths and dual voices that have a real honesty about them. It suggests that the two years have been worth the wait. The breaks and delivery of the melody are soulful, yet with an edge that provides a modern twist, with piano moving gracefully over a chord progression that holds the melody to the backbeat. As the tune moves on, more complex harmonies are added, with hand claps to add to the crescendo and feel of the track. 

What you hear is a sense of desolation in this song, with a theme of loss felt at the end of a relationship that is mirrored with the floating instrumentation and glide of the melody that moves the track from verse, to chorus, to middle. You are left in no doubt as to the mood, and fair play to Aquilo for delivering a track that is as bare as this. There is a risk in taking two years to release new material and the risk can often go wrong when artists spend too much time trying to be something that they’re not. Sober is not like that at all. It is clear, precise and a brilliantly crafted song that has not been given the over the top treatment. It has class in the delivery and melody that transfers the message of the lyrics wonderfully to allow the audience to fully engage with a track that is fast becoming one of my favorites of 2020.

 Electronica 

Author: Phil Arnold

Phil Arnold is a musician, producer and music reviewer from Devon, in the South West of England. Whilst not writing music reviews, Phil also writes and records under the name of Ugbrooke.