Benoît Pioulard – Sonnet

Submerging into a white-wash of distilled ambience from the outset, yes, we’ve still got the same Benoît Pioulard. But this time we’re offered a more organic goodness: he uses just analogue tape and guitar pedals to curate layers of field recordings (that’s washing machines/industrial air conditioners) that in turn inspire the rest of the instrumental contributions. It resonates with electronic gurus such as Fennesz but in a more commercially digestible arrangement.

He claims several of the harmonies were composed in his dreams – em, why aren’t our dreams this heavenly? The title of previous release Hymnal is definitely more relevant here. Glassy strings engrave onto busily glitching vibrations and tracks often synthesise into each other through heavy delay and distortion. Vague motifs levitate in and out of thick frequencies giving clues to the album’s progression and making it impossible to pause midway. Schedule this in, find a comfy, lonely spot – hire a surround sound if you need to. [Luisa Brown]