WAKING DREAM – AYA LARKIN

Aya Larkin’s Waking Dream is a big fat hug for your ears. Each track pushes a different ingredient of Larkin’s musicality. On one arm there are gentle, melodic gestures, such as in the sweet guitar of opening track Los Angeles Morning, or the James Blunt-esque No Title. From the other arm come bouncy pop tracks like All Time High and Too Late to Turn Away Tonight, which are still tinged with a taste of rock. Coming up right in the chest are luscious strings which swell and caress tracks like Waking Dream, 3 Moments and Rusty Faith, elevating these soulful ballads to cinematic proportions. Responsible for this scoring is Suzie Katayama (Bjork) who worked with Larkin to record the 16-piece string section at Capital Studios, Hollywood. Whilst Waking Dream proudly introduces Larkin’s particular mature brand of pop/rock, it really does pack in a lot of musical flavours and vocal timbres. As a result the album becomes quite busy, allowing for a very broad idea of stylistic unity. Nonetheless, each track individually bursts with musical ingenuity, pleasant melodicism, and wide textures. Waking Dream is Larkin’s first solo album upon his return from LA, and is the basis of his upcoming Australian tour.

****