Sorrow – Dreamstone

Bristol's Sorrow is at the forefront of the post-dubstep movement, taking cues from the more atmospheric, musical end of the Hyperdub spectrum; he is one of the producers helping to define the intersection of electronic shoegaze and post-club garage. Tracks like opener Elixir are as focused on their reverb-saturated, gently repeating, miasmic soundscapes as they are on their intricate beat-work.

While comparisons to Burial are perhaps inevitable, there are more differences than similarities, principally in tone – Sorrow's work is gently melancholic, but warm and pretty, with none of the urban claustrophobia of the London producer's work. Vocalist CoMa, who features on two tracks, provides breathy, layered refrains, which Sorrow loops into gently undulating patterns. Although not offering much to mark him out from his contemporaries stylistically, Sorrow's debut is elegantly polished, with an epic sweep on tracks like the string-led Embrace. The perfect soundtrack to wake-and-bake Sundays and late-night trysts. [Bram E. Gieben]