Au4

For brothers Ben, Aaron and Nathan Wylie and their friend Jason Nickel, music has always been a constant in their lives. As the Vancouver-based electronic ensemble Au4 (pronounced: oh-four), the four musicians have created a debut album that explores and celebrates the other endless forces that shape and bind us. On Audio, the groups new full-length release, is an uplifting, ethereal trip through the rhythms of nature and the nature of dreams, mixing blissed-out ambience with melodic, fairytale songs.

Ben Wylie (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Aaron Wylie (keyboards, vocals), Nathan Wylie (drums, percussion) and Jason Nickel (bass, vocals, keyboards) grew up on music, each starting Royal Conservatory training at a young age. In high school, the boys formed the requisite alternative rock bands, while continuing their musical study and touring in jazz, choir and theatrical productions. Jason and Nathan attended Capilano Colleges Jazz Studies program, while Ben and Aaron began experimenting with the electronic loops and beats which would later morph into Au4.

Inspired in part by the electronica explosion, and landmark albums by Underworld, Massive Attack, Bjork, and Nine Inch Nails, Ben and Aaron (who was also DJing in Vancouver clubs) started writing with new tools, layering and shaping sounds late into the night. In 2003, Jason Nickel heard their demos and brought them to producer/engineer Richard Dolmat. The group Au4 was officially formed along with Nathan Wylie their brother.

"On: Audio" was produced by Au4 and Richard Dolmat at Digital Sound Magic studios in Vancouver and is released on their own label, Torn Open Records. The nine tracks draw from trip-hop, ambient and dreampop styles, featuring the breathy, haunting vocals of Ben Wylie, who also scripted the fantastical stories of love and life.

A melancholic tone weaves throughout "On: Audio", but the mood is of contemplative optimism: The acoustic-guitar laced love song Hit and Miss undulates like a watery embrace. The bass-driven A Mile From Here is an up-tempo track ready for clubs. Even the epic An Oceans Measure of Sorrow rocks, a fresh take on the piano ballad. Everything Always Moving sums up the albums hypnotic qualities and themes of hope.

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