Album Review: Absent Hearts - August Earth

Brainchild of local musician Scott Kay (Voyager, Statues) along with the vast talents of former Tesseract vocalist, Brit Dan Tompkins, August Earth is an intriguing project only possible thanks to technology. Sharing tracks over the internet despite being over 14,000 kilometres away, the pair have crafted something that shows signs of greatness, but is perhaps a victim of its own gestation. 

Essentially, August Earth is one person looking after all the music and one providing vocals; a premise that makes the release so impressive, but also creates a few issues. Despite the excellent musicianship on display, the aforementioned trepidation culminates in the occasional lack of synergy between the musical direction and the lyrical storytelling (exonerated in light of the inability to jam-out any of the songs). August Earth experiences a lack of stark dynamic shifts and breaths, missing opportunities to really climax or alternatively push minimalism in ways that could enhance the overall dynamic of the release as a single piece.

However, such issues appear negligible when lowering the eyes to see the scope of achievement of the record. August Earth is beautiful, euphoric, smooth and haunting, with music and vocals executed flawlessly (see King Of Hearts, Whispers Of A Sleepwalker and The Essence Between Us). As layers of acoustic and delayed guitars melt away, discrete percussion and subtle bass carry each song along. The ethereal vocals of Tompkins (a delivery not unlike Stephen Christian of Anberlin) wash over with pristine delivery, instilling positivity and longing within the listener. August Earth is a great local release, the opportunity to develop the two elements in unison could make for a sensational next release – here's hoping!