I See The Wind Blow

Toro Y Moi “Blessa”

There’s some interesting movement in this piece — circular motions, lateral progressions, synthesizer washes that seem to rise up like mist — but the thing that stands out is how bits of sound seem to get knocked from their course, as if the lines run into a force field and either bounce off or immediately disappear into the ether. The ending is a surprising digression, far more tactile and anxious after the mellow mood blinks out entirely, and all that’s left is an emotional void.

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Julianna Barwick “The Highest”

This is aesthetically closer to a whale song than an R&B tune, but I hear some swing and groove in this, lost somewhere in the waves of sound. It could be the echo of something I’m half-remembering, some phrasing or texture that’s mutated as memory fades. This would seem to be the goal of a lot of atmosphere-oriented music these days — reconstructing memory from fragments of feelings. I’m not sure if that’s where Barwick is coming from, but it’s certainly how this works for me.

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