“Sunshine jams & melodic mood swings” is how Mike Smalle & Matteo Grassi have pitched the music of Augustus & John which is an apt description.
The Galway based Italian/Irish pair have made a full-length album Above Water Hull that crosses the boundaries of genres, from house to ambient to soundtrack scores to disco to dream pop to techno but never straying too far from a core electronic sound helped by Smalle’s vocals.
The tracks previously on their EP last year make a reappearance like the gentle evocative ‘Atur’ and the percussive electronica of ‘Crosslines’.
Highlights include the propulsive steam-engine electronic style of ‘Ombre’, the Moby-esque Italo ‘Lennon In America’ and the mesmerising ‘Tokyo, New York’. Above Water Hull has the capacity to lift the spirits.
It’s also on Spotify.
