Today, on February 2nd, the world welcomes the debut album of singer, producer, and songwriter Austel, titled “Dead Sea,” marking the culmination of her 7-year musical and life journey. The album features 12 tracks, each intertwined with a light, pop-synthetic thread that connects them into a cohesive narrative that Austel shares with the world.
The record has proven to be so distinctive that it’s challenging to find anything comparable in the world of indie music today. The songs seem to be coated with a thick layer of lacquer, as if they belong to the realm of art-house while simultaneously being commercial. “Dead Sea” captures the elegance of Austel’s high vocal range, making the new album undoubtedly a subject for discussion. I’ve been listening to this album for several days before writing this article, and for the most impatient, I would say that it feels more like watching a film in a vast, dark, and empty cinema, where there is only you and the artwork itself.
photo by John Williams
Behind this record stands a monumental and impressive team. Austel collaborated with Grammy-winning producer Guy Massey (The Beatles, Manic Street Preachers, Kylie) and mastering engineer Katie Tavini (Nadine Shah, Arlo Parks, Bloc Party), as well as with numerous talented women and non-binary producers and engineers. I want to particularly highlight the album cover, which simultaneously evokes excitement and admiration. It was created by Colombian artist Natalia Giraldo Giraldo, who used a cast of the Austel’s head to weave an incredible sculpture and captured it in black and white photography.
I must admit that during the listening experience, the album cover became a sort of guide leading me into a world of subtle emotional nuances. “Dead Sea” is a revelatory album where reality intertwines with fantasy, where fear merges with admiration, and where the living coexists with the dead. Born from a cast of the face, it’s as if she forms a bridge between the material and the metaphysical, between darkness and light. The title “Dead Sea” itself prompts reflection. The Dead Sea, with its harsh beauty and inhospitable environment, becomes an allegory for the human experience. It’s a place where death and life intertwine, where apparent lifelessness can be a source of healing and rebirth.
photo by Natalia Giraldo Giraldo
The light, slow, and tranquil beginning, where ambient merges with Austel’s magical voice in the track “22.28,” intrigues and impresses with its high sound quality. In the track “With You,” the bright and memorable rhythm, along with commercial vocal hooks, creates a sense of true immersion that literally draws one into the aesthetic mist of the release. I admire the atmosphere reigning between the notes. Love, inspiration, and tranquility permeate the skin and forever etch into the consciousness. The album reveals its sound with each listen, the electro-pop style in the track “Company” conjuring an atmosphere of a neon night.
Austel plays with the moods of her songs, as if constantly teetering on the edge, yet always remaining in a light and tender range. It’s this multifaceted nature of the tracks that captivates and intrigues. Overall, the album is structured in a way that with each listen, you crave more. The track “Beds Of Stone” sounds absolutely divine and otherworldly. A lump forms in the throat from the melancholy flowing weightlessly through the track. Perfection! Pushing the atmosphere and cinematography to the limit, the following track, “Cut Me Down,” serves as the Austel’s calling card, with complex vocal harmonies, diverse textures, bright pop rhythms, and magical echoes, where every sound warms the heart.
Austel is a master of emotions and deeply feels the music with her entire soul because only music that comes from the heart can be so tender and sensual at the same time. “Dead Sea” feels like a very rare diamond. The album concludes with the tracks “Salt” and “Dead Sea,” and they are some of the brightest and most powerful songs on the album. Indeed, ‘Dead Sea’ unfolds in an entirely new light towards the finale. “Salt” represents a bold fusion of light dream-pop sounds with electronic textures. Meanwhile, the final track, leaves an impression of a vibrant culmination, where each instrument sounds openly and fulfills its key role. It’s the perfect conclusion to the album, where light and joy prevail over somber melancholy, leaving a sense of hope and uncertainty after listening.
As mentioned earlier, despite its art-house direction, Austel’s “Dead Sea” sounds surprisingly commercial, even effortlessly so. This duality encapsulates the album’s special character: it doesn’t confine itself to its eccentricity but, on the contrary, unfolds before the audience in all its unique allure. Each listener will find something in the album that truly touches their heart. And beyond all of this, “Dead Sea” feels like a very rare diamond, which is what draws people to it.
Indie Boulevard Magazine 