A composer of soundtracks for video games, films, TV and everything in between; Alpha Chrome Yayo is leading the way for the tranquil and chillwave aesthetic on these shores. The Belfast producer, Peter McCaughan has broken new ground for all of his contemporaries and his latest album Hidden Earth is a reminder of his outstanding talent.
Hidden Earth is a ten-track exploration of the world surrounding us; be it the soil we stand on, the water we sail through or the sky at which we stare when everything seems a little too much. Bringing in diverse cultural touchstones such as traditional Irish minuets or Asian instrumentation and rhythmic signatures, Alpha Chrome Yayo sews it all together beautifully into a sub-30 minute portrait that washes over you and makes the everyday far more poignant and filled with so much more depth than ever before.
You can hear the hours spent deep in thought with Comfort of Soil and Baateri Salutation, which use gorgeous pan-flute lines to reflect wind rushing through the trees, whilst the distorted guitar lines of Shoki’s Mirror draw on memories of digging through the earth for buried treasure. Its real power, however, is in its familiarity. Be it a childhood of Pokémon or Spyro, you can hear remnants of days spent in total bliss and the memories of the joy and calmness those moments brought come rolling back.
Hidden Earth is the perfect accompaniment to wherever your day may take you, and makes even the most mundane of moments even a little bit more special.
Alpha Chrome Yayo – Hidden Earth
[Self-Release]
Words: Cailean Coffey
