British Duo Aquilo Offer All Kinds of Comfort in Their Debut Album ‘Silhouettes’

You might remember Aquilo from gracing the pages of P&P a couple of years ago, but the British duo is back with their anticipated full length debut, Silhouettes. The album picks up where their previous releases left off, tapping into an already well-established vein of windswept electronics and tender pop bleeding with heartbreak.

The title track opens by stroking strings and pillowy piano keys into a personal moment about leaving people and places behind. Things only escalate from there as the vocals stretch out over an expanse of addicting melodies, filling the pockets with lyrics about relationship woes and growing pains while navigating the familiar Nordic sound with ease. New song highlights like the bittersweet “Blindside,” “Almost Over,” and “You Won’t Know Where You Stand” pool perfectly into the duo’s brand of soul-seeping emo electronica where thrashing production—SOHN recorded hitting pots and pans with drumsticks for “Human”—soaks into the sweeping organics inspired by the pair’s idyllic, hill-rolling hometown of Silverdale, Lancashire.

It’s not hard to draw out comparisons to fellow British exports like The xx and Radiohead or Iceland’s Sigur Rós, but the album nuzzles into a cozy mood pocket all its own that draws most of its inspiration from sadness (because sadness is a blessing when it comes to music). “We don’t really write happy songs because we only really write when we’re emotional,” Aquilo told Billboard. “When we’re happy we tend to not want to write songs, we just carry on being happy.”

Silhouettes echoes feelings we all know too well, which is why it’s fated to provide all kinds of comfort. Listen to the album below and check out Aquilo when they hit SXSW and New York’s Bowery Ballroom this March. Above, watch their epic video trilogy directed by Eoin Glaister, who was also behind Aquilo’s previous videos, “I Gave It All” and “Losing You.”