An Autumn For Crippled Children's 9th full-length record ‘As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes’ came out on the 21st of May.
AAFCC was formed in 2009 and back then they sounded a little rougher. The vocals have not changed, but slowly melody and synergy between instruments crept in. And so this album is filled with melancholic guitar melodies that intertwine perfectly, backed up with synths, and screams that come from a cold netherworld. The music conveys a specific brand of melancholy: you feel sad but comforted in your sadness. You feel broken, but you know someone or something is beginning to heal you. If there is hope, it is just out of reach. But it is there. And you feel its warmth in this cold darkness.
At the beginning of February this year, the town I live in was covered in snow. I had to bring my children to school by using a sled for the first time. When I walked back, I could not choose which music to listen to. So, I decided not to listen to music. I just listened to footsteps in the snow and the soft howl of the cold wind. Everything was covered in little white snowflakes that kept falling out of the sky. They covered the entire town and made it look like a snowy desert. And I felt a strange sense of serenity in my mind. My head was not filled with debris anymore, everything was cleaned up. It was tidy and neat. 'As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes' reminds me of that specific moment when everything settled. I am writing this review in June, so it is officially summer here in the Netherlands, but this record makes me wish it was snowing again.
An Autumn For Crippled Children, is a life-changing band that makes life-changing records like As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes. With every record, their music gets better and the feelings they evoke go deeper. Who they are? Doesn’t matter. As long as they keep bringing out records like this, that mystery is very welcome.
Tracklist:
Carefully Breathing
Of Your Light
In Winter
Splendour Unnoticed
As The Morning Dawns We Close Our Eyes
Hearts Closed
Melancholia
Last Night I Believed In You