Airbag - The Century Of The Self

Year of Release: 2024
Label: Karisma Records
Catalog Number: KAR277CD
Format: CD
Total Time: 47:00:00

While this isn't the first Airbag release that I've heard, it is the first that I've gone past the "listen to; take notes" stage. The first track I heard from 2024's The Century Of The Self was "Erase," via its accompanying video (see below), which begins with a throbbing bass line which is punctuated by punchy drums and underscored by sparse keyboards creating spacy washes.

Like "Erase," the whole album is full of atmospheric and moody moments, cinematic in scope. Each piece could be the score to a mini-movie, even if that move were a single, continuous shot as I imagine the album's opener "Dysphoria" to be -- here a long drive down a dark and lonely road. A repeated drum rhythm gives way to an explosion of crashing guitar and percussion. It is as times sinister - from calm to manic and back.

Century... is richly rendered with dynamic passages and instrumental beauty. Guitars shimmer, soar, and sear. The music from the start draws you in and surrounds you. Even with the number of moments that could be considered lowkey, amongst them is "Awakening," an overall more intimate track that, at a high-level at least, seems to reflect on depression and isolation - hiding oneself from the world after something has prompted that retreat.

There might be only 5 tracks here lasting "only" 47 minutes, but the trio of Asle Tostrop (vocals, keyboards), Bjørn Riis (guitars, bass, keyboards, backing vocals) and Henrik Bergan Fossom (drums) create music that breathes and is so expansive that makes it seem longer in a good way. I am sucker for a good, emotive guitar solo, and Riis' soloing is all over this album; but that doesn't make what Fossom is doing with the drums any less interesting, as nothing here is not without purpose or... motive. Asle Tostrop sings in a very understated way -- much like Mariusz Duda (Riverside), for one example -- even when the track itself is at its most fervent.

The lyrics to each piece uses an economy of words* and exactly what is being said is, in many ways, left to interpretation. That isn't to say they are obscure either, but I think rather are meant to evoke a feeling, a general sense to which you apply your own meaning. Putting yourself in the "self" as it were. The aforementioned "Awakening" is perhaps the most direct, yet still sparse. A core theme to the album is losing one's sense of self as we become distant from the world around us, by choice or by circumstance -- "Erase" and "Take It Down," which, perhaps sardonically, both suggest erasing oneself from everything; "Tyrants And Kings" -- safety in following the herd, not questioning "authority."

Another thought I had while listening to this track and the album as a whole, was of 90s/00s Marillion, in the abstract... an impression. There are also, during instrumental sections, a vague Pink Floyd feel as well...

[*Yes, perhaps a lesson I should learn.]

Also available in Digital and Vinyl formats.

Tracklisting:
Dysphoria (10:38) / Tyrants And Kings (6:47) / Awakening (6:44) / Erase (7:50) / Tear It Down (15:00)

Musicians:
Henrik Bergan Fossum - drums
Bjørn Riis - guitars, bass, keyboards and backing vocals
Asle Tostrup - vocals, keyboards and programming

Guest Musicians:

Ole Michael Bjørndal - guitar (1,2,5)
Kristian Hultgren - bass (1,5)
Simen Valldal Johannessen - keyboards (5)

Discography:
Come On In (EP) (2004)
Sounds That I Hear (EP) (2005)
Safetree (EP) (2007)
Identity (2009)
All Rights Removed (2011)
The Greatest Show On Earth (2013)
Disconnected (2016)
A Day At The Beach (2020)
A Day In The Studio/Unplugged In Oslo (2021)
The Century Of The Self (2024)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin NO

Added: April 28th 2025
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website: www.airbagsound.com
Hits: 351
Language: english