Wonderful Beasts

by Michael Holland

Absorbing magical odd-pop. boycalledcrow and Xqui, both with other releases to explore on the excellent Wormhole World label* have melded together in fine form as Wonderful Beasts with this release, The Art of Whisper.

My Old Guitar has contorted fuzz segueing into digital glitter showers and a pulse-beat that develops into a more resounding thump as the track progresses; a wonderful episodic song, shedding its elements as it goes, like blossom off a tree, little unhurried flutters of backwards squeals. Love Her is  all cosmic gusts of wind and smeared carousel organ riding the peaks and troughs of calm respiration. I Fell Into Another Dream is an exploration of mangled and manipulated guitar, full of reverb, echoey taps and stops.

The rest of the album is composed of melodies curving up higher registers until out of ear-range. Crystal synth shines. A retro arcade naivety to some of the songs: the inviting crunchy menu screen sounds of 90s gaming. Destabilising weirdness sometime intrudes from the edges: She is The Melody Man nudges what sounds like a compressed and crushed giggle into frame at odd intervals. The main mood on The Art of Whisper is largely stilled contemplation, only really upset briefly on Into The Emerald Eye where clouds of broken modem dial-up glitches gather but even here disperse peacefully into sighing synth pads.

Wonderful Beasts manage that difficult act of being sweet without getting twee. It’s a soft listen, a cool pillow to lay on, unassuming and beautiful.

*Check out Emerald (lush hooting forests of bouncy tunes) by boycalledcow, and Elemental (textural examinations, drone ‘n’ burble and unintelligible whale-song transmissions) by Xqui for further interesting sounds.