Aeronexus - Virtua Interface

Review by Karl Magi

Overall Album Impressions

Aeronexus’ “Virtua Interface” represents a culmination of his work, both thematically and in terms of its extremely elevated musical quality. It brings to an end the story that began on the first album and fills it with more complex sonic ideas, more emotional power and a group of guests who bring their enormous talent to this album and accelerate it beyond the level of his earlier work.

At the heart of “Virtua Interface” lies the story which has run as an arc throughout all of his concept albums. Over the years, I've watched it evolve and become more multi-faceted and more intertwined with Aeronexus' own personal expression and exploration of how his life has evolved. The storytelling aspect of the album stands out to me here, delivering an emotional punch and pulling me into the world of the characters. The exploration has become more mature and intellectual which only deepens its power.

The unmistakable style which Aeronexus has developed over the years reaches an apex on “Virtua Interface.” His unique synth choices, fascinating tonal colors and his individual sensibility that brings together melodic beauty and irrepressible energy results in layered and deeply rich music. When one adds intricate synth solos that are full of vibrant liveliness, it’s difficult to ignore the ear-pleasing nature of each tune. For a long-time listener, it's a treat to hear a high level artist reach his potential in such an entertaining way.

An extensive cast of talented supporting artists adds the final layer of excellence to the music. Each guest is a skillful musician and performer in their own right, but when they come together with the artist's fascinating musical worldview, the results are explosive. Each artist brings their own fresh and engaging sound to the project and integrates with the overall auditory environment in a way that only increases my excitement.

My Favourite Tracks Analyzed

“Virtua” slips in on a cosmic wind broken by splintered chimes before a robotic voice declares that Virtua is online and a disconnected drift breaks from disjointed, prismatic sounds joined by a heavily punching rhythm and undulating notes rock back and forth like a tide. The imperious beat explodes with interstellar force and propels synth strings which radiate encouraging brilliance along with a tightly tumbling motif.

Warmth and memory become a velvety flow in the mid-range, carrying me into nostalgic contemplation. As string-like resonances give off dawn light, a floating segment slides in and raised figures rain down delicately, caring and connected. A steady, flashing tonal pattern moves with a caressing melody.

Quickly twirling pulses give off uplifting illumination while the heavy beats trip below. The freshness and joy of the main thematic components floats me above the weight of the world, conjuring realms in space before the track concludes.

Exploring the entanglement of two disparate realities, “Empty World” begins gently with computerized voices shining and reverberating in a tumbling line, full of a leaping melody. Groovy percussion and a jingling tambourine support the quickly flying vocals, moving with complicated feelings, in an exuberant performance.

Funky bass tangles with the punchy underlayer while the lead singer smoothly and vibrantly punches home the encouraging, memory-filled melody. As the exciting synthesized glow spreads, the song’s emotional depth takes hold of me and I am carried on its tide. Swinging beats add synth-pop joy to them while glockenspiel tones spin out in iridescent lines.

A voiceover echoes before the vocalist emanates the joy, release and nostalgia within the lyrics. A synth solo flies with uplifting, wildly soaring energy that bursts like a supernova. The percussion briefly drops away before the lead singer brings back life and gruff power before silence falls.

For our main character, “a thought so in its place takes hours to come by,” and by then the world has already passed them by. Experiencing “arrested dreams and fear in Paradise,” the two aspects of the character are told, “I’ll heal you, release you, then take you out of time.” They ask to be released from “this corner of my mind” and healed.

After spending all of their life “living in the calmness of this empty world” while trying to keep the past’s magic alive, they find that “it’s burning up my soul.” It makes for an empty world still, as our storyteller notes, “we’re out of time for reason and for rhyme and it goes by.”

Both aspects of the character are “the bearers of the earth divide” as Heaven and Hell collide. They go on to say, “don’t let it squeeze you, consume you, have you forsake the present time.” To conclude, the speaker says that “there’s no need to take you to a place that lives only in your mind.”

“Stargazing” reflects fading twilight and the slow emergence of stars with a sense of sacred calm before Jana Tyrrell's emotionally resonant vocals capture hope and dreams while the rebounding drums generate energy with their leaping power.

The vocals communicate resilience and positivity in the face of a cynical worldview while astral ambience fills the distance. Detailed sounds form a halo of light while Jana Tyrrell's vocals fly with excitement for future potential. As weightless sounds move with a feeling of hushed tenderness, the background flows with lush warmth and wraps all around me.

All of the words carried by Jana Tyrrell's heart-filling voice move right into me and inspire me with their uplifting strength. After an explosion of rhythm, Aeronexus' classic panpipe synth sings with blue tranquility and abiding peacefulness before the song comes to a close.

Considering her path forward, our storyteller looks up at the night sky and contemplates the future for herself and the song's subject. She asks them, "Did you know you could fit a million Earths inside the sun?" and points out that even the stars can die, so what is the significance of our fleeting lives?

The central character questions how they can know if they're doing anything right and if she and the song's subject will still know each other in ten years. These questions are the "unknowns of the future crashing in my mind." She wants someone to take her hand and guide her to the right path because "I'm stumbling in the dark to no real end."

Referring to herself and the song's subject, our storyteller says, "We are stars in each other's sky, a constellation map of life." She doesn't mean to be cynical, but she's gained perspective over the years. In spite of this cynicism, she still believes that "maybe we can shape shift, be moulded and realigned," as she points out, "Who knows how bright we can really shine."

As the song concludes, the song's subject asks the narrator if there are too many things occupying her mind and reminds her that, "You gotta let go and see, we're stargazing tonight."

Dramatic chords radiate piercing light as “Stay Connected” slowly ripples outward to increase the strength and positive progress within the tune. After a brief break, the stuttering power of the underpinnings presses forward as a melody flies out on wings of illuminating synth to dance with encouragement.

Digital complexity entangles in the expanding sounds, weaving imagery of a world trapped between reality and virtual space. Shadowy, technological dynamism trips from the broken beats as the broken glass notes slice with computerized precision to generate leaping speed.

The melodic twisting has me enthralled as the track slowly drifts again, now the explosive foundation flies, conveying soaring uplift and a sense of unrelenting motion, before the track shatters into fascinating sonic shards. The skipping, broken energy is irrepressible before the music fades.

“Quasar” caroms like an out of control particle through alternate dimensions, adding uncertainty and a sense of wild dynamism before ferocious guitar slashes cleanly. The heavy weight underneath supports the lyrics while the rhythm gains strength and charges with abandoned wildness with grating sounds.

Passionate vocals join with excitement erupting brilliantly with the pounding underlayer before sharp chord changes create blinding luminosity and the lead singer delivers flying uplift and the shattering beats rip through with the vocals carrying out in a thrilling line.

The whole low end stutter steps in a way that I find compelling as crystalline notes dance with the gigantic low end and groovy notes move in a shimmying pulse that carries through and the slowly drifting tones finish things off.

A throbbing signal cuts sharply over a bed of echoing, eerie sound before “Digital Derealisation” accelerates with blinding speed into a realm of terrified sensation, haunting notes moving over a melancholy line. The contrasting madness of the drums with their ferociously pounding force with a melody that encapsulates tragedy and loss, feeling orchestral and full of longing.

A force of ripping danger moves as the base pulse grows gentler but no less shadowy. The stuttering drums break like hungry claws against the track while the string melody imparts terror and melancholy in a combination I find moving. Endlessly bursting, the underpinnings contrast with the orchestral synth, transporting a wave of hurting feeling and emptiness, soaring with softer feeling before ending.

“Crushed” starts after a voiceover and a computerized background a colossal beat charges in along with swelling vocals, wordless and haunting, and the exciting energy in those vocals is joined by hopeful hints balancing the explosive beat. Slightly distorted vocals levitate, capturing the feeling exuded by the words. The active underlayer speeds as robotic vocals reflect gripping emotion, pulling me into the mood of the track.

Accelerating sounds pour out along with the warming vocal feelings, supported by heavily smashing percussion and bass. The vocals wander into vast space as the rhythmic pulsation becomes massive beats, rebounding with galactic force and a guitar shines with astral effulgence, while the vocals trip in a distorted pattern and the thrilling synth twirls in blinding lines before jumping percussion ends the music.

The drum beat towers and strings carry a melody which breaks with hurt and growing loss as “Astroloop” begins with bright lights floating off into space. Beckett's talkbox imparts a robotic impression, somehow deepening the emotional weight of the words, despite its artificial quality.

In the distance, a synth glistens with planetary brilliance, while the talkbox vocals generate more disconnection, as strings touch with wistfulness. A synth solo moves with glossy expression before Beckett’s soulful performance grasps me and the robotic chorus intertwines with more human vocals. As the strings levitate and suffuse the music with a supernova light, the words float into thoughtful silence.

As our storyteller is trapped in a loop without the song's subject, he feels his life is pointless and the world weighs on him in his loneliness. He tries to "justify the times, the lies" as he feels trapped, unable to stop thinking because he wants the other person back. He says "I'm in the void, I stare and I cry from beyond the black" but he can't escape the loop because it is "the astrometric of time itself."

Falling like debris, the protagonist is "floating so peacefully and aimlessly away" as he takes a one-way trip to the closest star. He's "stuck in an astroloop" as he seems unable to get anywhere. He refers to the song’s subject as "my tracking beacon, trying to bring me home." He adds that the retros are offline and he has to face the situation alone.

To conclude, our tale's teller delivers a monologue, saying, "computer’s down, wiring’s shot, retros are offline. I can't stop thinking about you as I head into the singularity. I just hope that maybe there's a chance, maybe there's a chance that you and I are together on the other side."

“Cold In Space” hovers into existence in a gossamer mixture of synth and the echoing vocals before Chris Zerby erupts into the song with his earnest and honest performance, catching the words with touching feeling.

Cruising underpinnings interlock with technological notes that slice coldly and contrast to the human feeling in Chris Zerby's performance. Snarling heaviness balances the wistful reflection that captures my heart with caressing gentleness.

The percussion rumbles before a ticking percussive beat is cut by Aeronexus’ speeding synth solo, like a supernova pouring brilliant light as Chris Zerby catches the mood of the words.

After having been away, healing himself, our storyteller says, "I keep losing you on those nights with no moon." He was a poet on a distant planet but he’s "all fixed now.” He says,"I think we met at the end of the world, when the oceans swirled and the cities burned." They made an escape to his favourite place, "reading books on a spaceship."

Despite the dark and cold of space, the narrator says, "I'll be your friend in this haunted place." As everything tumbles back on itself and forces time back around, he says "I wish I could turn off the spin of the world, when you’re in my bed." Reiterating that he thinks they met at the world's end, he adds that they were "reciting all the things we have learned." As the song ends, our guide says that they "sat drinking coffee and saying goodbye to the plants and the animals."

Polychrome swirls eddy with vibrant life as “RE: Discovery” blossoms and the solid beat smacks hard and laser light bursts forth to be driven by the rhythmic heartbeat. The force is massive while computerized-sounding tones transmit a melody full of lightness and relief.

Stuttering sounds dance below showering cymbals and the rhythm accelerates as vivacious dynamism captures me. Digitally sparkling sonorities sing as spaced out sounds create anti-gravity motion, while a computerized synth adds a compelling sense of escape. The main synth exudes a starry shimmer above the unrelenting low end and razor-sharp sounds that provide contrast before the track concludes.

Conclusion

“Virtua Interface” is the height of Aeronexus’ journey thus far. The way in which it brings together musical depth, emotional power and a plethora of superb guest artists results in music in which I find something new each time I go back and listen again.