Bronze Whale's displays euphoric chillstep on debut album

Bronze Whale is an indie-electronic duo comprised of Austinites Aaron Jacques and Benny Alley. They’re singers, producers, multi-instrumentalists—a rare breed of electronic musician in today’s age—and derive inspiration from childhood upbringing and underground music from the Myspace era. The duo started gaining traction in 2018 with remixes for Whethan and Robotaki (among others), following those up with a handful of originals released on their own imprint Magic Magic Collective. Their dedication to outputting high quality music and overall consistency soon snowballed into widespread attention from the media world and radio stations like Sirius XM.

Now, they’ve thrown fuel into their fire in the best of ways by releasing their debut album, The Shape of Things. From illusive percussion to elegant vocals and lavish synths, this 11-song project is the prime soundtrack for a late night drive or anyone needing a taste of a tropical, beachy landscape.

Touching on some highlights, “Mountain Lane” is one of the more uplifting melodies, with bright leads and bass-line harmonics that make Whale’s autotune vocals as dreamy as ever. “Valley Yum” displays true versatility in their sound, as the duo blends wavy synths with a thicker bass-line that layers under some bars from artist Swanny Ivy. The track delves into Ivy’s hip-hop routes while simultaneously sticking to an indie-based sound.

Lastly, Whale concludes with “I Really,” a track that starts off pop-leaning with an upbeat build-up that seamlessly drops into straight chillstep. Jacques and Alley lyrically collaborate with singer Gioto on this one, making for a beautiful ending to a downtempo journey that will have any listener feeling calm and content afterward.