Baths – Cerulean

Album Review by Martin Skivington | 16 Aug 2010
Album title: Cerulean
Artist: Baths
Label: Anticon
Release date: 2 Aug

In a year where Flying Lotus has delivered one of the most talked-about releases with his sprawling, electronic opus Cosmogramma, it seems a new generation of future-savvy beat makers are busy layering their tracks with technological blips and staggered drum patterns.

Los Angelean Will Wiesenfeld, alias Baths, is the latest among them, although Cerulean is far from a mere copyist's act. While clearly adept on the piano and sequencer – creating rich, varied soundscapes in the vein of fellow fusionists Dan Deacon and Hudson Mohawke – Wiesenfeld's strength lies equally in his dexterous vocals, which give these songs a welcome pop narrative.

There are some truly prized moments here; You're My Excuse To Travel is a delicious slice of '90s soul, dragged into the future and strung over a clattering piano riff, while Lovely Bloodflow is quite literally, lovely – a dark, mellow instrumental which Wiesenfeld caws over like a neo-Prince or Cee Lo Green. Sublime panacea. [Martin Skivington]

http://www.myspace.com/bathsmusic