Dau – Gilly's Wood

Built around two hours of improvised reed organ recorded in the titular forest, Dau’s latest release is suitably pretty, a set of earnest, delicate pieces that feel like little hymns to the natural space they were recorded in. Neu is a representative opener, a gently optimistic little chord sequence that seems to accumulate sounds as if its the wind moving through the woods, a soft pulse of leaves and sparrows. 

It’s a style that could wear thin. Every piece has the soft glow of a rural sundown, gently meandering, never diverting in any particular direction, simply slowly blooming into something greater than it began. But it's the way Dau animates these spaces that makes the album work so well. It's in the little pushes of bass that make Camping press forward with its woozy momentum, or the way Mulberry seems to hover, totally weightless, just rotating in place. This capacity to be completely calming whilst never sitting still makes for a beautiful thing. 

It’s a sound that in no way reinvents the wheel, but it's superbly done. There’s an incredible command of tone on display on the record, and it cements Dau as an always experimenting, ever interesting solo artist.

Listen to: Camping, Neu, Mary