Bandcamp (not on other streaming services as of August 2023)
Label: Motion Ward
Tags: Slowcore, Trip-pop, Deep tempo
This album is both immediate and so very nostalgic, with a wistfulness that caresses your cheek and drives off into the traffic-less highways of night. The percussion provides the most present lashes, whipping us to attention through the slow churn of the other instrumentation. HLP beats genuinely slap, with sharp strikes and deep bass meriting loud playback. Vocals are both warm and vaporous, like steam off a hot spring rising into a current of air. This is rather sexy music, intimate while also distant, like kissing someone’s neck beneath their ear while they’re asleep atop the comforter. Yearn; exhale.
Highlights: “Boyracer”, “Your Laugh As My Ringtone”, “Sever/Strike”
RIYL: Portishead, Massive Attack, Sade, Cocteau Twins