Bleep

After debuting on Brighton imprint Phantom Limb back in the early days of 2019, Dylan Henner now returns to the label with his second EP. Stormbird Brother In The Dusk is an unusual title for an unusual record, one that finds Henner building on his previous release A Reason For Living while also pushing his sound in an intriguing new direction.

The press release for Stormbird Brother In The Dark introduces the record as both ‘Caribbean-ambient’ and ‘ambient-calypso-dub’. Both of these descriptions feel apt when listening to this thing. Henner worked closely with the Trinidadian musician Fimber Bravo to create this record, lacing in Bravo’s steel-pans with warm keyboard tones and spiralling dubby delays.

Bravo is particularly involved in the record’s first two tracks. The way that his steel drums sing atop mournful dub-techno chords on ‘It Started Raining But It Only Lasted A Short Time’ is pitched somewhere between Nicolas Jaar and the psychedelic folk-electronics of Prospect Hummer-era Animal Collective. Both Bravo and Henner are more measured on the lilting ‘Sunlight Came Through The Blinds’, a track that has plenty in common with Earthen Sea’s recent ambient-techno excursions.

Henner’s takes prominence in Stormbird Brother In The Dusk's second half. ‘The Dog Fell Asleep In My Lap’ is a glorious dawn-chorus ambience, with Henner combining field recordings and beatific delays before a stirring synth-led coda. Gentle closer ‘The Lawn Was Covered In Blossom’ rounds out the EP in a manner that shows off Henner’s love for Brian Eno and Jon Hassell.

The elusive Dylan Henner teams up with Fimber Bravo for A Stormbird Brother In The Dusk. The result might just be the prettiest EP you hear all year.