Aerolinea - All We Need (2024)

As the shimmering guitars and sonic cascades of the opening title track rain down, we soon realize that we have entered a fractured and fragile world, one where our two protagonists Victoria Real and Eric Weissinger seem to use their instruments to weave a mesh around atmospheres rather than make music in a more conventional sense.

Sure, there are occasional heavier moments when their dream pop gauze heads into more shoegaze territory, such as the latter part of “Dreamer” or “Nothing Is,” but this album is defined by its use of space and ethereality, its dedication to the less rather than the more, the unheard rather than the obvious, and emptiness rather than physicality.

Whether it is “Nervous’s” staccato slashes of guitar, “What Is Love’s” between-the-beat sonic spaces and balance of grace and groove, or “Desire’s” chime and charm, this is an album made from restraint. And that restraint, that space, is what lets the light in, so much so that the eight tracks found here dazzle in their beauty, the musical equivalent of the sun on the water.

Less, as they say, is more. And what All We Need proves is that it also follows that even less is therefore so much more.