Inquiri :: See You Someday (Past Inside The Present)

You can hear a lot of pure ambience on See You Someday, however, most of the time it is infused with ambient pop aesthetics, some big string arrangements, and straight up psychedelia.

A dreamy and psychedelic sound

See You Someday touches on a lot of different styles and approaches to assemble its dreamy and psychedelic sound. You can hear a lot of pure ambience, however, most of the time it is infused with ambient pop aesthetics, some big string arrangements, and straight up psychedelia. All of this is immersed in a myriad of smooth and pleasing ambience, coming especially from the layers and layers of synth pads, and the extensive use of the piano, which always sounds really clean; it is very much used in ambient fashion, with some motifs being repeated and little to no emphasis on tangible chord progressions, sometimes it’s just some notes fleeting by, making it so it is never invasive and can easily blend in with the rest.

This should make it quite clear that atmosphere is this album’s strong suit, but it’s also quite interesting how some moments do really latch onto pop structures; examples are tracks like “Be the Hero” and “The Come Around,” but not solely because they’re more vocal-centric than most material on the LP, rather because they seem to bring back certain parts as if they were choruses. They’re not actual choruses, hence why this isn’t actual pop music, but they do have a proper sense of structure due to how they alternate their different sections; this makes it so that both of these tunes are quite memorable, even if I’m particularly fond of the former, as it’s quite straightforward in most of its aspects. On the other hand, “They Come Around” is easily one of the album’s highlights, its lead melody is really beautiful and I like just how big and slow it is, it makes the whole tune a lot more immersive. There’s also a great contrast with the vocals, which are really laid back instead, making the song as a whole a big moment to let yourself sink.

I do generally prefer the more purely ambient pieces, however, like the introductory “My Eyes Opened.” While the track itself doesn’t have any—excuse me—truly eye-opening moments, it is constantly progressing, always adding that extra layer that keeps making it grander and grander. This makes it work especially well as an opener, as you slowly get introduced to this sense of magnitude that the song is creating, becoming almost overwhelming at points. It is only for engagement though, as the rest of the LP doesn’t try to impress nearly as much as this track does, as I said it’s all rather moody and mellow, so “My Eyes Opened” really is functional as the first track.

Emotionally impactful ::

“Then Heaven Fell” is also a highlight, one of the more immersive tracks. Its sound almost latches onto the aesthetics of vaporwave, especially with its steamy beat and blurry vocals; the surreal soundscape it creates is really pleasant, and it is especially engaging thanks to how repetitive it is; really something you can just immerse yourself in instead of something that you’d really expect to be gratified by.

The last two tracks are also quite enjoyable; they’re the two real ambient pieces of the album, as both are rather sparse, slow, and don’t have that recognizable key component that would make them stick with the listener. The title track is a really captivating, pad-based ambient track, your pretty standard ambient piece really, while “They’re Gone Forever” is a bit more emotionally impactful due to how many different layers it stacks. The piano is seriously beautiful, and all the vocals and really vast pads make the piece feel very organic, in a way. A sound this pretty isn’t really elsewhere on this LP, but it is really comforting as its tail, makes it end on a sunny spring afternoon.

Even though See You Someday doesn’t seek to impress at every turn, it’s quite calming when it’s in rotation. With the slight lack of identity, the musical content offered here is nonetheless entrancing.

See You Someday is available on Past Inside The Present. [Bandcamp]