Don't bother trying to pigeonhole the music of Aaron Martin and Dag Rosenqvist, who record under the name From the Mouth of the Sun. If their mission in this instrumental miniature is nothing more than beauty itself, they have succeeded on a disproportionate scale.
The music in "Light Blooms In Hollow Space" summons exactly what its title suggests. A simple, two-note piano figure ticks like a clock while wheezy organ chords slowly emerge and a sprinkle of ukuleles falls from above. The space may be hollow, but it's painted with impressionistic detail.
Suddenly, the fog lifts to reveal the warmth of a blooming sun. A melody ascends in swells of synths and strings, producing an arresting moment of grace. Then the light recedes as a cello's plaintive sighs usher the scene to its close.
The music comes from Hymn Binding, the duo's upcoming album. Martin is based in Topeka, Kan., while Rosenqvist resides in Gothenburg, Sweden; the two musicians have never met in person. Still, with a line-up of cello, piano, guitars, banjo, ukulele and pump organ, they offer their own atmospheric brand of electro-acoustic music which will appeal easily to followers of Max Richter, Hauschka, Olafur Arnalds, Daniel Wohl or the masterful Polish musician Jacaszek.
"Light Blooms In Hollow Space" isn't overly complicated — one needn't overthink the quiet power of a musically evocative space and the heart-melting melody that invades it.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
