Crystal Skies - Stardust

By Gabriel Matias Castilho

Crew…What. An. Album. On Feb. 23, Britian Holcomb and Aaron Dawson—known by their stage name of Crystal Skies—released their version of a supernova in the form of a 10-track compilation. In all honesty, I haven’t listened to an album that is at the same time extremely colorful, melodic and powerful, since Au5’s Bridges Between album (released in October last year). I have been craving a curated melodic dubstep compilation for quite some time, and I am so happy to announce Crystal Skies delivered it to us. The experience is so ethereal it feels wrong to put it into words, but here it goes.

The album—I mean, the experience—opens up with “Growing Pains”, a collaboration with Utahn artist Soundr that explodes (just like a dying star) in a myriad of ethereal emotions. The artists even experiment with sounds from other varieties of dubstep, such as color bass (fitting, huh?). It is followed by the featured song of the album, “Stardust”, a collaboration with award-winning singer & Massachusetts-born HALIENE. The album’s homonym track initially adopts a trance-driven approach, but quickly shows its true colors with a swift discharge of energy and melody when it breaks down.

It is hard to pick a favorite track from this compilation. My two runner-ups are “Farewell”, with Seattle-raised singer KnownAsNat, and “Nirvana”, a collaboration with LA-based artist AMIDY—both are insanely radiant tracks. But if I had to put one on a pedestal, I would have to choose Crystal Skies’ collaboration with Grammy-nominated singer Luxtides, “Other Side”. The kaleidoscopic drop of the song resonates with the intrigue-ridden lyrics so well, it feels like a lyric by itself. One can easily get flabbergasted by the constant breaks in the melody during the drop, which are SUCH A JOY TO LISTEN.

This album is the immediate proof that colors can become an auditory experience.