ALBUM REVIEW: Esmerine – Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More

Constellation

Released: 26.08.22

Esmerine are a Quebecois collective – part of the GY!BE diaspora – and have passed me by until now, which is a damn shame. This album is in the post-rock/post-classical/minimal vein you might expect but with some unusual instrumentation and a really unique feel.

If the occasional track feels a little New Age candle shop, for the most part this is gorgeous stuff. Take Hymn For Rob or Wakesleep, brief and melancholy gems, piano and cello hitting you right in the feels with the simplest of melodies. Imaginary Pasts is more rousing but no less affecting, and closer Numbers Stations has a slowburn, cinematic feel with brooding strings that are simultaneously creepy but beautiful. One to lose yourself in, but stay away from the candles.