7/10

Samyula’s latest 'Ethereal' feels like stepping into a sunlit room where every particle of dust is suspended midair, each one illuminated by an unseen hand. The Barcelona-based composer, pianist, and neuroscientist has long balanced the rigour of intellect with the vulnerability of emotion, and here that balance blooms into a body of work that feels both fragile and unshakable.

The album moves like a slow exhale as the title-track and standout offering 'Orbit' drift with a featherlight touch, their melodies curling upward like smoke, while 'Core' descends into richer, grounding textures. 'Duality' wrestles with contradiction, capturing that liminal space between comfort and unease, and 'Axis' closes the set like the quiet turn of a page, a gentle shift into silence.

Her performance is a study in restraint, letting the notes breathe instead of rushing them forward; precise without being cold, tender without dissolving into sentimentality. Producer Kjell Sonksen wraps the compositions in a luminous frame, where every resonance feels intentional and unhurried.

In 'Ethereal', Samyula offers a kind of refuge. It’s an invitation to step out of the noise, to let the mind settle, and to remember that stillness can be as vivid as motion. This is an album that lingers as it plays, reshaping the quiet long after the final note fades.