Azure Ray - Burn and Shiver

Pop. I would love to think this three-letter palindrome has grown out of its old skin as an associate with bleak and uninspiring popular rubbish. I would love to think that it has become known as a genre of universal emotional connectivity rather than a procured scene of prepubescent bubble-gummed infestation. However, this is simply not true. Most of rock’s patrons still ignorantly create a deceptive lineage from pop to MTV and radio. Although it most definitely is a pipe dream, the emotional pop telegraphers of Azure Ray want to change all that. Burn and Shiver, this female duo’s sophomoric heart thumper and brain sweller, blows through the abysses that pop music should emulate: plains of atmospheric flourishes, rolling hills of silky smooth production and mountains of climatic crescendos. Yes, Azure Ray are more of a photographic landscape than a cold clinical cut of plastic. They know that the plush horns that sound off in the distance and the sensitive synthesizers that tremble like a wavering spring breeze on “Forever Cities” and the acoustics that drip with a sweet jangle on “Trees Keep Growing” aren’t going to crush the musical template; or even make a dent in it, for that matter. But that’s not saying that tears won’t be shed, emotion won’t be blossomed and love won’t be spread by this dyad. Trust me – I witnessed it firsthand. Azure Ray – while wrestling with topics of love and ruffling the feathers of loneliness – warp their subject matter into a surprisingly content craft of pure pop goodness. Although apt to both celebrate life and its virtues while being prone to the sadness and its tribulations along the way, Burn and Shiver rests its head on complacency at the end of the day. The soft ethereal touches of femininity that lull atop a warm, hazy backdrop of drifting life will definitely not alter the world – but if it makes you think a little longer and feel a little more does it even matter? [www.thewarmsupercomputer.com]