B-Side Guys

When two acoustic guitars pull against each other in contrary motion, they create more than musical tension – they map the geography of indecision. On “Aeroplane,” the new collaboration between ARK IDENTITY’s Noah Mroueh and Double Wish’s Philippe Andre and Adam Sabolick, this push-and-pull becomes a meditation on the space between departure and arrival.

Recorded during a pivotal California session, the track marries vintage warmth with contemporary innovation. Philippe’s engineering channels ’70s minimalism through dry, immediate production, while Adam’s synthesizer work pushes toward future horizons. The result feels both grounded and weightless, like watching landscapes blur through an airplane window at 30,000 feet.

The arrangement builds through careful layering – Mroueh’s vocals and bass providing the foundation, while Andre’s precise drumming maintains forward momentum. Most striking is the Mellotron’s flute-like presence, weaving through the mix like high-altitude wind currents. When Mroueh sings “Nostalgic tides washing away,” the instrumentation creates exactly that sensation, with competing guitar lines finally finding resolution in shared purpose.

This single from Double Wish’s upcoming EP “Deeper Ecstasy” (due February 28th) demonstrates how creative tension can yield unexpected beauty. The rap-influenced vocal cadences might seem at odds with the dreamy psychedelia, but like all successful journeys, the unlikely combination reveals new territories. Mroueh’s stated influences – from Tame Impala’s psychedelic expansiveness to Bon Iver’s emotional intimacy – serve not as reference points but as departure gates to somewhere entirely new.

“It’s so calm to know / That I’m letting go,” Mroueh reflects in the song’s closing moments. The calm he describes isn’t the false peace of escape, but the genuine serenity that comes from embracing transition. In collaborative terms, it’s what happens when artists stop protecting their territory and start exploring shared airspace. “Aeroplane” suggests that true freedom might not be found in either departure or arrival, but in learning to find home in the journey itself.