Vinyl Williams – Into

The second long player from LA-based artist/multi-instrumentalist Lionel Williams – grandson of film composer John Williams – and it certainly doesn’t want for ideas. Quirky electronic pop, buttressed by a mesh of discombobulated beats and slippery rhythms, the vocals so low in the mix they’re hardly there.  

The dreamy sophistication behind tracks such as World Soul and Zero Wonder imply Francophile vibes, and feint allusions to the more stately moments of Air or Stereolab (Axiomatic Mind, is an über-modern take on Bossa-nova sentiments, ideal over a lazy day cappuccino). Into does sometimes try to be too slick for its own good, the swash of voguish sentiment clean and shiny, the lack of hooks and edges for the listener to grip onto somewhat frustrating. But then comes the electro fugue of Eter Wave Agreement, when Williams flexes his experimental chops, and all is right with the world.