At first the title seems to make little sense: Aureolin Winter. Aureolin is a pigment commonly known as cobalt yellow, visible on the collection’s stark cover. Dig deeper, and one learns that the color is meant to suggest warmth and energy, which is exactly what these artists provide, in the time when it is the most needed.
Aureolin Winter is presented by LA label Friends of Friends, whose most accomplished artists include Somni and Shrimpnose. Both artists appear on this compilation, which pairs six new tracks with seven catalog nuggets. The sound is reminiscent of the 1999 Hed Kandi series Winter Chill, which helped to get us through many a winter back in the day, their grooves a reminder of beaches and sun.
One of the early gifts is the chance to hear more new music from Jeune Oji, whose Clausura we reviewed only a couple weeks ago. “Aurora” is intimate and subdued, its close miking akin to the creaking of winter trees. As whispery voices turn into a wordless chorus, the woods come to life around the piece, a slow handclap beat visiting the final frame. niteloops‘ “first snow” is similarly lowercase, piano backed by soft rustle and a feeling of tranquility. When the warm guitar arrives, it enters like a winter guest, shedding notes like outer layers. Shrimpnose introduces “Hovering” like the sound of vinyl crackle, but in this context it sounds like the crackle of a fire. The beats are sharp and brief, like hoof prints on the snow.
Upon hearing mourning doves in Sara Kawai‘s “birds of dawn,” one remembers what one has been missing; the winter soundscape is sparse and thin. The track is like a dream of the season to come, the buried samples like memories struggling to surface. Later in the set, Somni‘s “Dusk” adds balance to the day, the notes wobbling in the cold, struggling to find their footing. The track first appeared on another Friends of Friends compilation, Somni Presents: Up Too Early Volume 2, making it the rare orphan to find multiple homes. Of the back catalog tracks, the most winter-like is Joe Nora‘s “Land of the Endless,” the closing track of 2024’s Puzzle Face. We credit FoF for filling the album with tracks that sound like winter, even if not written about winter; the ivory cascades fall like fat flakes from a burgeoning sky. Ernest Gonzales closes the album with “Dancing in the Snow,” which was the opening track on 2009’s Been Meaning to Tell You. This percussive piece has stood the test of time, coasting on chimes and beats that sound like sleigh bells and a marching band in the snow, accompanied by the artist’s cold breath.
White and misty blue may be the traditional colors of winter, but aureolin is the color of the dream that gets us through the season, as we wait for the full spectrum to reappear. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 