New Azure Ray – Red Balloon

Azure Ray brings together the talents of Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink, who began playing music together at age 15 in Birmingham, Alabama. Their dreamy folk music has been a mainstay on our airwaves since the early 2000’s and their new EP “As Above So Below” explores some new sounds.

Here’s a sample with “Red Balloon”, a sweet song about new love.

From KCRW DJ Anne Litt: “It’s dreamy and sparse with a slight electronic edge to it. I was really surprised listening to it because it was so unexpected. Equally unexpectedly, their voices and harmonies work really well in this new technical landscape.”

Maria was eight months pregnant during the recording and they name “Mother Nature, beginnings, endings, and re-birth” as themes in the lyrical content. For the music, they sought a more minimal/electronic experience, enlisting Orenda’s husband Todd Fink, of The Faint, for assistance.

While their sound may have changed, old fans will be happy to know their haunting, evocative harmonies are still intact.

Saddle Creek will release the EP on Tuesday, September 4.

RR