Nightswimmer

Brooding in the dark, in the half lit swells of sound where atmospheres and electronics collide, local artist Nightswimmer continues his personal trawl through the evocative and dreamy shadows of contemporary electronica. Offering tightly structured, gentle yet highly emotive sounds on his debut EP and 2001's sublime Can the Mechanical Be Beautiful, Nightswimmer has loosened up here, developed upon his approach, escaped his comfort zone and blurred some of the sharper contours of his sounds.

Equal parts smooth downtempo groove, evocative ambient drawl, heavily sedated experimental electronica, and hypnotic dub, Nightswimmer again exudes a careless ability to seamlessly assimilate his sounds into his own distinctive brew. Where ..and the crescent half lit the sky differs from previous outings is his willingness to rely on less uniform structures, and to give some of his more left field tendencies an airing, which not only provides for greater diversity, more surprisingly makes for a much smoother album. Utilising real instruments such as bass, guitar, mandolin and trombone, alongside the programming, Nightswimmer also steps out with Dan Tu a Vietnamese 4 stringed instrument, adding an exotic world music feel to his sounds. Another welcome development are the breathless vocals of Mimi Iakovidis on Underneath the cloud cover, as are the warm electronically treated bagpipe drones of waiting for almond eyes, a tonal beatless cut that could never have found a home on previous albums. And the crescent half lit the sky marks a major development or perhaps refinement in Nightswimmer's approach, whilst remaining true to his past, this time he has cast his pail wider and in doing so produced a lasting work of poise and beauty.
- CYCLIC DEFROST