Album Review: Airling - Hard To Sleep, Easy To Dream

Back in 2014, Airling captured the imagination of many with the luscious vibes of Love Gracefully.

It's taken a couple of years but Airling's (aka Hannah Shepherd) dream pop project blossoms with the release of her debut album. Featuring Big Scary's Tom Iansek and Graham Ritchie in the credits, the trio have crafted an album of sweetly understated vibes that combines Shepherd's cool and almost crystalline clear vocals with gently rocking beats and breezy electronica. The spoken word introduction is an invitation to meditate, close your eyes and swim down into the depths of the mix. It is just so easy to drift away to these songs which have been produced to achieve maximal light and fluffy dreaminess. The arrangements are spare and tend towards the minimal, allowing Shepherd's vocals to occupy the very centre of the mix.

It is easy to see how some of these tunes would rock dancefloors with bigger more demanding beats. Emma Louise, Fractures and Iansek turn in guest spots, but for the most part everyone featured builds on Shepherd's aesthetic. Airling doesn't quite achieve otherworldly etherealness, but so much of this mighty debut pushes out solid feelgood pop vibes.