IurisEkero – AURA

IurisEkero – AURA – Album Review

It was really cool to read about the creation and release of this record.  Don’t get me wrong, I think we all still love another reason to celebrate, and I’m sure your next album-release party will be pretty cool no matter where you choose to hold the event – but is it going to be a IurisEkero level of cool?  Honestly it’s doubtful – this dude took his stage to the bottom of the freakin’ ANDES and played to the people as the sun set around them all.  HOW AMAZING IS THAT?  Kinda makes a local pub seem a little dingy by comparison, don’t it?  There are a couple of crucial lessons to be learned in this whole scenario though – one being that you should ALL be this passionate about your music…to go where it takes you.  The other might even be more important – don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when it comes to the art (yes art) of putting your music out there into the world.  It’s my wish of all wishes that everyone out there would be just as excited about what they do as IurisEkero has been about the music he’s making.

Now…after reading all these amazing details about AURA, I guess the logical question is, how does it measure up to the high expectations and hopes we’re left with?  I’ll say this right off the bat – the level of professionalism is instantly on display in the opening track “The Password Of My Heart.”  It doesn’t really matter which element or aspect of the song you’re examining…music, vocals, structure, songwriting – all the right pieces are in place, exactly where you’d wanna find’em.  If anything, chances are there might be more than a few of you that would feel like a song like “The Password Of My Heart” is almost too crafted and seamless, you know what I mean?  It’s really well-shaped Pop music at the core of it all, and IurisEkero certainly leans into that part of his musical persona proudly.  A song like “The Password Of My Heart” probably rides the line between Pop and an upbeat spin on Adult Contemporary more than anyone might like to admit, but that’s the reality here.  It’s smooth and welcoming to listen to…I suppose that’s where I’m at with it.  I don’t know that it necessarily has that undeniably memorable spark I’m personally listening for, but I can certainly acknowledge the efforts made here in making this song as technically flawless as it is and commend IurisEkero for that.  It’s an encouraging start for sure.

I’ll put it to ya this way…we all know what resonates with us on an individual level…it’s part of our DNA.  As “Didn’t See You Today” came on, I knew within less than ten seconds that I would personally enjoy this song much more than I did the track before it, and I was absolutely right about that.  Heck, I’ll go a step further with it and say that the vast majority of us are likely going to feel that way.  Ultimately, I’d tell you that a song like “The Password Of My Heart” explores a memorable concept – but “Didn’t See You Today” is a much stronger example of how to make memorable SOUND – make sense?  This second song has the hooks you wanna find, the wonderfully upbeat vibes you wanna hear in the energy of the music, and another exceptional concept that works perfectly with every element to create an unforgettable moment.  IurisEkero details a grey-ass world that’s almost lifeless, and how sad it can be when he didn’t see that special someone, and brilliantly contrasts that idea with how wonderful life IS when we’ve got that person by our side instead.  Everything springs to life on “Didn’t See You Today” and it becomes a brilliant example of how sensory sound can head straight to our soul.  You feel a song like this one…and even with such extraordinary performances from the music to the microphone, it’s really the main concept in the writing at the core of this cut that keeps us listening as intently as we do.  It’s endearing to say the very least, and inspiring at its very best – IurisEkero absolutely nailed this tune.

Obviously take everything I say with the ol’ proverbial grain of salt – I tend to stay pretty far away from mainstream Pop when it comes to my own personal preferences for the most part.  As I listened to the title-track from AURA, I kinda felt my Grunge-loving blood quickly resisting this third cut, because it’s a lot like much of what we’ve heard to a degree, and once again drifts back closer to its overtones of Adult Contemporary.  Personally, I think that’s a dangerous flavoring for almost anyone out there to add to their music, and the reasons why are right there in the name itself – Adult Contemporary risks losing the youth, naturally.  A track like “Aura” is nearly like what you’d imagine Celine Dion doing with the music as it first begins.  For many out there, there can’t be a higher compliment paid than that – and the vocals really ARE that outstanding in this song – but you still get the larger point…it has a higher threshold of age for its target audience.  To be completely fair to IurisEkero though, the numbers are behind him – Adult Contemporary tunes have a massive market out there and I’d never tell ya otherwise; it just tends to appeal to a different demographic.  Even I listen to a track like “Aura” and feel like I’m not THAT old yet (even though yes, I definitely am) – but I can still admire how perfectly polished it is and marvel at the stunning performances you’ll hear in this song.  Especially the vocals…they’re truly breathtaking.

To be even more fair to IurisEkero, I also think there’s a much larger acceptance of Adult Contemporary in Europe than there is in the North American perspective in the place where I live…that’s always been something I’ve noticed ever since I started writing about music some twenty-six years ago.  I listen to a track like “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less” and I can spot the craftsmanship right here in the title long before I even hear the music.  It’s essentially the Nashville-effect, if you will…the art of songwriting on full display.  For some, that’s exactly what they love to find in music.  For others, there’s a disconnect between feeling the moment versus writing one into existence – make sense?  Each has their own merit and method, but they are different aspects of music and we enjoy them in completely different ways.  I struggle when I can hear the craft more than feel it, and I felt like “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less” was a bit more of an ask on my side of the speakers in order to go along with it.  It’s still extraordinarily well arranged and executed – in fact, I don’t think there’s any reason by this point of the record to believe that IurisEkero would provide you with anything other than completely professional & polished music – but it’s tougher to manufacture something moving than it is for it to happen naturally, you feel me?  As delicate as a track like “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less” appears, it can still feel forced in other ways.  Kind of like how melodrama works in what we watch…you want the sincerity to be a match for the concept, and that’s not nearly as easy to accomplish as many people out there might think it is.

Would I take “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less” before whatever the heck I’m listening to on “Every Second Counts” though?  100% of the time, and all of the times, yes.  I…almost don’t even know what to say about the inclusion of “Every Second Counts” into this lineup of songs – you won’t see this transition and switch in sound/style coming, no matter how much reading this might prepare you for it.  And I’ll be entirely honest with ya…not sure it was the right move to make.  I think IurisEkero clearly wants to tap into a wide range of emotions and whatnot, which in theory is a great idea.  In reality, it can seriously affect the cohesion of the sound of a record, because the cohesion exists more in the concepts behind the material than what we actually hear – you all still with me?  So when this like…jeez…over the top, upbeat, nearly show-tune style of song comes beaming outta your speakers like an audible smile being forced into your ears…it’s actually pretty jarring when you’re considering the songs that came before it.  Would I have been tempted to put “Every Second Counts” out as a single, rather than include it into the album?  Yep.  That probably would have been the direction I’d have gone with it, because it’s hard to argue that it’s a seamless fit into AURA sound-wise.  Conceptually, I get it…but yeah…we’re having two totally different conversations.  The quality is definitely as present and accounted for as you’d expect it to be, and I’m genuinely blown away by how IurisEkero got the maximum potentially outta the main hook in the chorus.  You’d have to be superhuman to sing this one, and somehow he found the right voice to make it happen.  It’s super flashy and stylistic, but it’s also an undeniable show-stopper too.  I don’t think anyone could listen to “Every Second Counts” and not be impressed by the execution here.

As IurisEkero wisely heads back to the kind of sound the album started with on “Even Miracles Take A Little Time” after the departure of “Every Second Counts” – I felt like many of the comments I made about “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less” would apply to this track too.  Having said that, like I was tellin’ ya earlier, we all know what resonates with us right away…and for some reason, “Even Miracles Take A Little Time” was able to break through to me a little more successfully in that regard.  I can still hear the craft more than I can personally feel it, so I suppose it’s a matter of the hooks being a little bit stronger this time around.  In some ways, I’d argue that “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less” is a more balanced song overall, because I feel like “Even Miracles Take A Little Time” takes a beat or two to really find its footing.  To me, the opening of this particular track and its verses didn’t quite hit the mark of generating the kind of interest that would keep me readily coming back to it, but the chorus was a real highlight without a doubt.  So strong, that I could theoretically see people responding more positively to “Even Miracles Takes A Little Time” than they might have to “I Ask God To Make Me Love You Less.”

Sometimes that’s all it takes though…you find the right fragment of a song that hits you in just the right way, and that moment might just last you a lifetime.  I might not LOVE the verses in “Even Miracles Take A Little Time” or even in “I’d Rather Believe” afterwards, but both songs possess an amazing chorus that could very well be strong enough to keep us all coming back to listen time and time again.  Overall, I’m more partial to “I’d Rather Believe” when it comes to the sound and style of it all…and for myself on a personal level, I might even tell ya that the chorus of this track is so freakin’ bulletproof that “I’d Rather Believe” probably still ends up right up there at the top of my list of favorites on this album.  Armed with another exceptional singer, she sounds somewhere between the whimsical/dreamy sound of someone like Jana Pochop from our independent scene, combined with the stylistic/digitally-melodic vibes you’d find in a mainstream artist like Metric.  So yeah…that’s definitely a huge win for my ears.  When you factor in the relentlessly positive spirit represented in the lyricism and its glass half full point of view, I’d say that there’s a great chance that “I’d Rather Believe” will have no problem at all winning people over.

Here’s the best example I can give you in terms of how the album is able to shift its sound successfully – it’s right there in the blueprint of “We Are All In One.”  Whereas a track like “Every Second Counts” seems to come outta nowhere, “We Are All In One” is a much more logical progression.  IurisEkero makes his upbeat intentions clear from the moment this song begins…you know you’re in-store for a pepped-up energy when this all clicks into full gear, but the demeanor of the sound and style is a much more complementary match with the rest of the material surrounding it – and that makes a MASSIVE difference in the cohesion of a record and how it plays for us on the other side of the speakers.  Don’t get me wrong, I hear a song like “Every Second Counts” and the mind-blowing performance it contains and I totally understand how tough it would be to leave something like that on the cutting room floor – but when you hear how fluidly a song like “We Are All In One” can slide right into the lineup with so much lower-key energy right beside it, you can’t help but realize this is the right way to go about it all.  I’d probably go as far as to say I’d be taking a real long look at “We Are All In One” to be one of the main tracks to put out in support of this record…it’s loaded with single-worthy sound from start to finish and deserves to have the full video treatment to get this out there as the gateway in for listeners worldwide.  Oh hey, would you look at that – it already does, and it’s already surpassed more than a quarter million hits at YouTube!

As I tell y’all all the time, just about every record under the sun that has more than twelve tracks on it will likely reveal a bit of a lack of objectivity at points in the lineup, where more material is included than it can potentially hold.  “The Keeper Of Dreams” is a stellar example of that in action – I’d have likely cut this track in a heartbeat when examining the album as a whole.  How do you cut out a flawless song from ANY album though, right?  It’s never going to be an easy task – but just because something is perfect still doesn’t automatically mean it’s a seamless fit – make sense?  “The Keeper Of Dreams” is way too mired in its pursuit of rhyming words and such that it’s one of those spots where you can feel the Pop take right over into that magic formula it has for saying something and nothing at the very same time.  Performance-wise, I don’t think IurisEkero will ever disappoint ya with what he’s done in the music or the voices he’s chosen to sing these songs, so don’t get me wrong, in that respect, “The Keeper Of Dreams” is essentially as strong as any other track when it comes to that – but I did feel like the core material was a bit thinner when it came to the substance of this song overall.  Everything we create has a different focus or priority…IurisEkero wanted something colorful to guide “The Keeper Of Dreams” and I’d probably even argue that he got what he was looking for in that regard…but from my outsider’s perspective, it’s still not the right fit for AURA.  It’s pleasant to listen to, but it’s Pop without the depth that IurisEkero is aiming to create and has shown us in just about every track to this point in the album.

Sometimes less is more, as they say, and “Invisible Gravity” is an excellent example that supports the truth in that concept.  There’s less involved in making this song in many respects, but it’s a real highlight for how IurisEkero can give the material everything it needs.  There’s no need to overstuff anything when you’ve got all the right ingredients, so in the case of a song like this, you’ll likely notice that it’s the fact that it has extra space to breathe and move…and that’s precisely why the dynamics and definition of a song like this has the opportunity to stand out more to our ears as we listen to it.  Another vibrant experience that’s designed to slide itself right to the top of your playlists, the single-worthy sound of “Invisible Gravity” is impossible to ignore.  When IurisEkero gets it right, he really gets it right, you know what I mean?  “I feel it, I feel it – don’t you?”  A track like “Invisible Gravity” has the exact thing that is being sung about!  There IS an “Invisible Gravity” at work here…and it comes down to the attention to detail, the strength in the material from start to finish, and hooks that we would never want to escape.  There are a great many instances of things going right for IurisEkero throughout the lineup of songs on AURA, but “Invisible Gravity” might truly be one of the strongest you’ll find in any corner of the set-list.

As a result of being such a remarkable song, “Invisible Gravity” obviously becomes a very tough act to follow.  Ultimately, I think “Cut Loose” was probably the right track to come afterwards, and I feel like it managed to hold its own under extremely tough conditions.  It’s pretty much being asked to fill the spot right after what will be one of many people’s favorite song on the album, and that’s never an easy task.  Conventional wisdom would tell you that if you can’t compete, then don’t.  The best approach is likely to put in a lay-up…something that’s still strong enough, but isn’t trying to outshine what can’t be outshone – you following me?  “Cut Loose” is a great song by all accounts and every measurement, but it’s still going to have a tough time not getting glossed over when listeners will so quickly respond to “Invisible Gravity” right beforehand.  It’ll probably take at least a spin or two through this record for folks to truly appreciate “Cut Loose” as the stellar song that it is, but I’m genuinely confident that it possesses all the right ingredients to eventually earn your approval…and more importantly, keep it.  “Cut Loose” might very well go on to become one of the main reasons you RETURN to AURA for more spins in the future.  Long after you burn through the most single-worthy doses of Pop it has to offer, you’ll realize that the substantial depths and meaningful way that “Cut Loose” resonates within you and authentically moves you, actually holds up longer over time and repetition.  In short, while I’d still tell you that people will instantly flock to “Invisible Gravity” – “Cut Loose” might be the real unsung hero of this whole lineup when it comes to the overall longevity of this entire album.  Reminds me a little bit of the magic we used to find in the music of Neon Radiation at its best, ”Cut Loose” EARNS our approval through sheer quality.

All-in-all though, I think you have to hand it to IurisEkero for the strong rebound.  When I came to “The Keeper Of Dreams” and was so rock-solid sure I wouldn’t have included that particular track, I wondered for a second about how the rest of the album might go from there.  As it turned out, AURA goes on to display some of its most undeniably strong material in the tracks that followed with “Invisible Gravity,” “Cut Loose,” and “Safe Zone” coming back-to-back-to-back right after one of the album’s only real questionable moments.  I don’t know much, but to me, that seems like the best possible way to make a comeback after a perceived misstep, ain’t it?  Love the dual vocalists on “Safe Zone” – that in itself was a great idea to use for this particular song, but even beyond that, the whole thing is so sublimely hypnotic.  I might not have even realized how lost I got in this vibe when I first started listening to it.  I’ll often check the ‘repeat one’ button as I’m listening if I want to really get into a song, which I did with “Safe Zone,” and I think by the time I looked up again, something like an hour had passed!  If that ain’t the sign of a great song, I don’t know what else could be.  I had no problem spinning this song over and over and over, and very little of me wanted to move on from it, even when I had to.  At just over two and a half minutes in length, I guess the only thing I wanted was a longer version of it, which I resolved manually by clicking repeat-one on my side of the screen.  You might just wanna do the same thing.  Set yourself a little bit of extra time aside when you get to “Safe Zone” – it’s tremendously addictive and another solid WIN for IurisEkero on AURA.  Dude’s stacking up audible victories left, right, and center if you ask me.

What up with the very first second or two on “Let’s Ignite The Night?”  Seems like a weird choice, and fully unrelated to anything else that happens afterwards…yet it’s not a continuation from the track before it either?  What the heck happened there?  There’s very little you’d be able to pick on IurisEkero for when it comes to the technical stuff, so I’ve gotta take advantage of any quirks I can find.  I don’t think many folks would really notice the strange start to “Let’s Ignite The Night” unless they put it on a mix-tape of their own…but now that I’ve pointed it out, go check it out for yourself…it’s a bizarre choice.  After that, rest assured, IurisEkero goes back to crushin’ it with the organic digitalized smoothness we’ve now become accustomed to from him, and “Let’s Ignite The Night” will supply everything you’re looking for in the places you’d expect to find it.  If anything, from the title, I was probably expecting something a lot more bombastic than “Let’s Ignite The Night” ended up coming out.  I didn’t feel like this went over the top at all…it stayed professionally focused, and delivered.  Quality substance speaks for itself, don’t it?  “Let’s Ignite The Night” is sparkly and shiny for sure, but it’s all appropriate and cleverly included into the mix, you know, the way that real Pop music SHOULD be most of the time.  As a result, it feels like this song still has all the hallmarks of a single-worthy tune, but with the kind of substance that will last.

In my personal opinion, I don’t really care if a song is happy or sad – I just want to genuinely FEEL the music I’m listening to…and “Explain To Me Why” definitely hit the mark in that regard.  I mean, I think that IurisEkero was on the right track with a song like “Didn’t See You Today” early on in the lineup, but “Explain To Me Why” was like listening to that same kind of idea hitting the target with an even higher degree of accuracy.  I mean…I’ll be honest with ya…”Explain To Me Why” is pretty much as emotionally devastating as you’re ever going to hear a song be – and ain’t that wonderful?  Like I said, it doesn’t matter to me if a song is happy or sad or whatever inbetween…I just want to experience it and feel like the meaning behind the moment is flowing right through me.  I feel the isolation, the sadness, and the way that the world seems like all the color has drained out of it in “this melody of heartache” – it’s fucking heartbreaking y’all.  Almost every single one of us that is familiar with the power of love and how it brightens up the world every day while we’re in it, knows full well that lurking around the corner is a life without all of that good stuff.  What a lot of folks don’t know before it’s already too late, is that not every relationship ends with a kind of rational explanation we can make sense of – sometimes things just end for seemingly no reason at all, and we’re left to pick up the pieces without really knowing how.  “Explain To Me Why” felt like the anthem for those inexplicable moments where we’re trying to make some kind of sense in what happened, as impossible as that may be.  We’ve all felt that confusion in the loss of love…it’s a profound sadness I hope none of us have to get completely used to.  IurisEkero nailed this whole concept from start to finish, and found the perfect voice to sing these words.  It’s endearing, it’s sweet, it’s so brilliantly sad…it’s a perfect example of sensory songwriting that hits all the right notes.

All good things…come to an end, as they say.  I’m gonna have to push back against “This Love Is Insane” again, but c’mon – IurisEkero has been on a remarkable run of great material over the past five songs before it.  I’ll fully admit that “This Love Is Insane” might have an even tougher spot to fill in the lineup than “Cut Loose” experienced earlier on, but in this instance, everything drifted in the wrong direction.  Wrong theme to follow “Explain To Me Why,” wrong sound for the record…”This Love Is Insane” just isn’t the right fit here and I’m kind of bewildered as to how IurisEkero might have thought this fit into the set.  Like I’ve said many times on these pages of ours, as creators and artists, the material we make is always so close to our heart that it can be extremely tough to separate ourselves from it.  Especially in cases like this, where songs like “This Love Is Insane” or “The Keeper Of Dreams” or “Every Second Counts” are executed with such surgical precision – they’re all objectively great songs, they just don’t sound like they fit in with the rest of the material surrounding them.  So not to beleaguer the point & all, but if we’re cutting out three tracks from this lineup, thirteen tracks would be a lot closer to a bulletproof twelve than what a watered-down sixteen feels like, you know what I mean?  I like that “This Love Is Insane” has a whole different vibe – all the songs I just pointed out DO – but that doesn’t make them a cohesive fit in the overall context of an album…that’s the way I see it, from my point of view.  He might have a totally different view of WHY these songs were important to include & impossible to leave out – YOU might as well.  We all like what we like & love what we love.  “This Love Is Insane” is a decent tune by any measure if we’re talking about execution and writing, but it still sounds like it would make a more lasting impact and be more effective as a standalone single, or on a completely different record.

Annnnnnnnnnnd…I probably feel fairly similar to “Don’t Get Your Hopes Up” as well…maybe closer to how I felt about “The Keeper Of Dreams” in the sense that I probably would have left this final track right on the cutting room floor.  So again…math-wise for those of you playing along at home…if you cut four outta sixteen, that’s twelve tracks…the maximum threshold for where you’ll find a perfect record to exist, if there is indeed such a thing at all.  Where the writing hasn’t really had too many loopholes or let-downs along the way throughout listening to this record, I couldn’t quite get behind this last cut.  “Don’t get your hopes up” – but “stay hopeful and strong?”  Are we hoping or not hoping IurisEkero?  Pick a lane my friend…seems like a strange choice to have these lines come one after the other.  Sound-wise, it’s alright…a bit on the carbonated side of what ABBA would create in a sense, but I can understand the energetic appeal it could potentially create with listeners out there.  Not sure that it really felt like a track that went in with a strong idea in the same way just about every other track on this album did…this last track feels more like IurisEkero went in with a loose concept and tried to make it work, as opposed to how most everything on this album is filled with purpose and intent.  It happens sometimes, and what can you do?  The disconnect between how the original artist and creator of a record and its listening audience will always exist – personal tastes vary as well – YOU might think that “Don’t Get Your Hopes Up” was a perfect ending to this album whereas I wanted a little more than I got.  What I can tell you is this…three quarters of this record is undeniably golden, and I think we’d all agree on the songs that universally appeal to us.  IurisEkero has got a lot of great stuff going on; a professional approach that can’t go unnoticed, production that’s spot-on, excellent technique, and a real gift when it comes to finding such extraordinary & expressive talents to sing the songs he’s created.  AURA has a wild plethora of reasons to be excited and encouraged about what he’s created, and I have all the confidence in the world that every time we hear something new from IurisEkero, whatever that is will be even better than what we heard the last time from him.  Tremendously talented dude without a doubt.

Find out more about IurisEkero online at:

Main Site:  https://iurisekeromusic.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/iuris_ekero

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@IurisEkero

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/artist/4yh3pmJ514U9AfOrcPZyID

Linktree:  https://linktr.ee/IurisEkero

IF YOU WEREN’T SO BUSY READING THIS SENTENCE, you could be CLICKING THIS instead to learn more about how to be the next artist or band featured here at sleepingbagstudios!