ATMOSPHERE- THE DAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN

For over two dec­ades, Atmo­sphere have main­tained a course of rig­or­ous out­put, releas­ing over two dozen stu­dio albums, EP’s and col­lab­or­at­ive side pro­jects in as many years. In that time, the ven­er­ated duo have built a leg­acy out of bring­ing hon­esty, humil­ity and vul­ner­ab­il­ity to the fore­front of their music, con­tinu­ally chal­len­ging them­selves to evolve without stray­ing too far from their roots.

Slug has proven mas­ter­ful at storytelling and writ­ing com­pel­ling nar­rat­ives, leav­ing a trail of his own influ­ence while pay­ing homage to the rap­pers and song­writers that shaped him. Ant has skill­fully mol­ded the soundtracks with inspir­a­tion from soul, funk, rock, reg­gae, and the wiz­ardry of hip-hop’s pion­eer­ing pro­du­cers, cre­at­ing his own trade­mark sounds while provid­ing the pulse for songs about life, love, stress and setbacks.

At its essence, Atmo­sphere has been a music­al shep­herd, and with each new album comes a new jour­ney as they guide gen­er­a­tions of listen­ers through this thing called life.

Much like everything else in 2020 though, Atmo­sphere’s new album, The Day Before Hal­loween, is some­thing of a detour from the anti­cip­ated path. Cut­ting loose and eschew­ing their estab­lished norms, Slug and Ant have delivered the anti-pop answer to the con­tent and com­pos­i­tions of pre­vi­ous albums. Over razor-sharp drums and dis­tor­ted synths, The Day Before Hal­loween explores the life of a visu­al artist liv­ing in an anti­quated sur­veil­lance state.

It’s men­acing. It’s murky. It’s George Orwell meets Keith Har­ing at a video arcade, on New Year’s Day, 1985.