Sleep Whale: "Josh Likes Me"

You know what feels good in the summer? Elderflower-Pear Martinis; taste like lychees. You know what else? Lively acoustic instrumental pop, bereft of the purr of overheating machines. Christ knows there’s enough of them cranking out the Fahrenheit at the minute, so why not cool off and settle with Texan twosome Sleep Whale. No new-age birth recordings or panpipe bullshit with these dudes: just “collected scraps and meticulous crafting… a hypnotic musical meditation.” And, in brief, they’re not shitting us. Joel North is the guitarist/cellist, Bruce Blay plays violin and computer, and their baby is their sparkly Little Brite LP, out next month on the always-pretty-decent Western Vinyl. “Josh Likes Me” is its advance taster and probably the best example of modern olive branch imagery you could hope to find rendered as sound. Five minutes of carefree pluck and cozy abandon, it dips and soars like the proverbial dove, a sure sign of life after flooding. Skittery? Yes. Snuggly? Yes. But it’s also got a tight, maritime beat to it that levers it away from formula and makes you just want to coast. Those near-invisible keyboards give the strings a spongy layer before they’re left to fuck up in a bad/accidental studio fade-out. “I thought you were gonna give me notes and stuff,” says a voice as the tape gets chewed. It sounds better off the cuff, believe me.

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