LAUREL HALO レコード& CD

Review: Two artists split a double-A single, exploring both sounds and their structure in their own unique ways. 'Manifolds' sees Jessica Ekomane dive so far into polyphonic writing processes she reaches 'multiphonic', with different sonic voices, sources and timbres no longer on parallel trajectories, but eventually splicing into something closer to a human chant than most ritualistic tunes we're heard in a while. The effect is staggering. Laurel Halo then presents 'Octavia', which is best described as a kind of collage of beautiful harmonisation, a series of melodic motifs and textures that form small wholes, dissipate, reappear, merge, are all aurally connected but never combined. Highly technical stuff on the part of both producers, the coherency between the two is impossible to miss, making for a unique but coherent ambient-drone gem.

Review: Laurel Halo has always forged her own distinctive path from one project to the next, at times toying with the structures of electronic music and at others heading in a more classically-trained, minimalist direction. As such, it's no surprise that her new album Atlas is both unpredictable in its style, and utterly magnificent with it. Playing out as 'a suite of sensual ambient jazz collages', Halo captures something of the ghostly, barely there atmosphere of The Caretaker but replaces the cracked sadness with cosy, comforting mood lurking in the middle distance. It's a hazy, sleepy Sunday afternoon experience with extravagant detail and intention folded elegantly into gorgeously understated music, as compelling as we've come to expect from a standout maverick.

Review: The fourth ever solo studio album from the acclaimed electronic artist and composer Laurel Halo, Atlas is intended to guide the listener through their own subconscious mind, coming as an intense sequence of soaring ambiences and beatless jazz montages. Finding its footing in instrumental improvisation by Halo herself, plus featuring artists Coby Sey, James Underwood and Lucy Railton - and then blowing any assumptive connotation with jazz out of the park with its subtly effected vocal processing and electronic tinkerings and washes thereafter - fans can be sure that this is not going to be your stock experimental affair.

Review: Given her stratospheric rise in recent years, it's something of a surprise to find Dust is Laurel Halo's first album since 2013. It's the Michigan native's third full-length excursion and was apparently recorded over a two-year period at the EMPAC performing arts centre in upstate New York. Interestingly, it's even more difficult to pigeonhole than her previous sets, with Halo and collaborators - including Lafawandah, Michael Salu, Maxmillion Dunbar and experimental percussionist Eli Keszler - gleefully fusing elements of wonky electronica, skewed R&B, drowsy synth-pop, neo-classical, humid Balearica, creepy jazz and off-kilter ambience. In other words, it's a hugely vibrant and entertaining set that's more than worthy of your hard-earned cash.