Album Review: Kenopsia / Good Weather For An Airstrike

Good Weather For An Airstrike is the ambient music project of Winchester-based musician Tom Honey. He started the project in 2009 because he wanted to ease the symptoms caused by tinnitus. Over the last 12 years, he has created beautiful post rock, which takes the listener on a spiritual journey. It is also perfect for sleeping because it puts you in a dreamlike state. He released his latest album Kenopsia last month.

The definition of Kenopsia is “the eerie forlorn atmosphere of a place that is usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet.” This is a perfect summary of how the world has operated when the lockdown happened. And the album captures this feeling perfectly. I really like the beautiful string section and twinkling piano on ‘I Wonder If You Know’ because it makes you think how empty and peaceful the streets were during the lockdown. For me, this is the sound of bliss. But even better is ‘Still’ featuring Jamie Brett’s beautiful autotuned vocals. It is very experimental because it has a guitar in the background that takes the song into a new dimension. The soft drums complement this feeling nicely. “Go Forever is also a wonderful song because what sounds like a plonky piano brings the synth to life. It’s heavenly.

As someone who writes and listens to a lot of instrumental music, I know that even though the song has no words, the title captures how the artist is feeling when they wrote it. On ‘The Way We Were’ there is a feeling of nostalgia, with a creative synth pattern and beautiful vocals. The crashing cymbals could indicate frustration and wanting to return to normality. It actually reminds me of ‘How the Day Starts’ by Haiku Salut because the ascending synth in that song is like waking up in the morning.

Kenopsia is a very good album that captures the quiet feeling that people experienced in lockdown. It results in a 30 minute journey that is well worth your time and effort.

Words by Ermis Madikopoulos