By Keith Walsh
In a perfect world, synthesizers would be frequent companions of traditional instruments. The Brooklyn-based lounge music collective Roman Angelos gives us this world.
Their album Music For Underwater Supermarkets evokes imaginary environments, with original compositions that are painstakingly composed and recorded. Like the famous Muzak, aka ‘Elevator Music’ or music for supermarkets, these tunes feature sounds so smoothly produced that the effect is almost surreal.
It’s refreshing to hear something completely different. Composer/producer/instrumentalist Rich Bennett, who leads Roman Angelos, presents legitimate lounge music in a retro style, using acoustic instruments and analog studio processes. There are some 21st century modifications to the original exotic sound, including synthesizers and light use of drum machines, and it all blends into the dreamy pseudo-electronic vibe of these magical tunes. The mix is something new, something meta, as we listen backwards to look ahead.
Music For Underwater Supermarkets manages to reference all four decades from the 50s to the 80s — the tropical tunes of 50s jazz, jazz of the 60s, and pop of the 70s and 80s. From the cinematic “Entrance” and “New England,” to the retro pop of “Abyssal Plains” and “Swimming Through The Aisles” to the ironic light jazz of “Le Plongeur,” and the ambient and jazz of “The Underwater Supermarket,” the album creates worlds for our minds to inhabit while we go about quotidian duties.
Even though the album was recorded live, mostly in one take per song, there are no mistakes on Music For Underwater Supermarkets. Even if there were, it wouldn’t be noticeable. The dominant effect of the album is one of smooth perfection, with sounds that evoke an imaginary world of the past that never existed yet is somehow tangible.
Roman Angelos On Happy Robots Records
Music For Underwater Supermarkets On Bandcamp
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