ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Melbourne musician Nick Sowersby sculpts a dizzying sound under the moniker Sunbeam Sound Machine. His debut album,Wonderer, paints an introspective sonic palette that succeeds by its own modest standards.
Sowersby bleaches his work in a way that leaves a gauzy glow wrapped around everything, while at the same time injecting a deliberate sense of unease, with off-kilter instrumentals that ooze into the listener’s ear sockets like sad confetti. Shaped in his Collingwood garage, Wonderer is a hazy 13-track odyssey of light-textured pop hooks that lurk beneath breathy vocals and dollops of distortion.
From start to finish, Sowersby serves up a pool of tracks which all manage the same trick – each song is drenched in reverb, with saturated guitar lines drowning the vocals away. Mid-paced tracks like ‘Daibutsu’, ‘Zeds’ and ‘Infinity + 1’ contain viciously atmospheric hooks of mumbled bass, layered experimentation and drum beats that pack a fuller punch.
‘Autumnal’ floats things to the outskirts with a smooth shimmer of synth, before an excellent record fades out to a blissful end in ‘Sailing Away’.
4.5/5.
Wondereris out now through Dot Dash/Remote Control.
