Sounds That I Hear (Airbag, 2009)

Atmospheric prog has a very long and glorious history, from the late '60s pastoral tracks to Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson. Today, many Norwegian bands follow these moody examples and Airbag are among the most successful of them. "Sounds That I Hear" is likely to be the more optimistic song from the album "Identity", but it also exists as a two part mini-suite from a previous EP, released in 2005. The 2009 version, however, has a more coherent plot and surely sounds better, that's why I put it here.

"Identity" was the first full-length album by Airbag.

The sung theme is excellent, the intro is moving and the Gilmour-esque final guitar solo shines like the brightest pearl. It isn't easy to perform a seven minute slow tempo song avoiding boredom and redundancy, but this is exactly what Airbag did in this closing track... a dreaming way to say goodbye until the next time!