Sit down, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and relax…
If you’re looking for the musical embodiment of this feeling – that soothing contemplativeness that comes with taking the weight off your feet after a hard day – then look no further, because you’ve found it in the music made by Dr. Sounds, particularly in his tellingly-titled new track Aquaflow.
Born Alexander Forselius in the early 1990s, Dr. Sounds is a Romanian musician and producer who spent four years of his childhood in an orphanage. Unsurprisingly he claims that “this experience had a profound impact on him, shaping his identity and his approach to music”, and turning him into an artist who likes to “express himself in a meaningful and powerful way”. He’s inspired by a wide range of electronic artists, particularly those who specialize in ambient music like Brian Eno and Carbon Based Lifeforms, and as such tends towards making music that soothes the ear and calms the mind.
In this sense Aquaflow is typical of Dr. Sounds’ output; based around full-bodied ethereal synths and singing bowls it winds and weaves its way through its three-and-a-half-minute duration like some kind of hypnotic chant.
It differentiates itself from the artist’s previous work, meanwhile, with its specific focus on the theme of water, with the sound of the lapping of waves gradually permeating the track and settling into a rhythm that resembles the ebb and flow of the tide.
As most electronic music fans will know, there are moments when you need the loudest, dirtiest, and heaviest Drum and Bass sounds out there, and moments when you need a danceable, catchy synth riff to get you through your day. But there are also those moments when all we need is a calm, serene track to help us relax and wind down – a track like Dr. Sounds – Aquaflow, in fact, which is one of the most relaxing pieces of music you’ll hear this year.
