Bleep

Digital version includes exclusive Bleep alt. version of Free Migration

Four years on from his debut album Holkham Drones, Luke Abbott returns with his second LP Wysing Forest on Border Community. Named for the Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire where Abbott acted as musician in residence in 2012, it's an essential release, every moment minutely detailed but still delivered with an approachable warmth. Taking inspiration from spiritual jazz to minimalism and with a focus on live improvisation, its an album of pastoral electronica, full of organically drifting drones. There's more weight to the tracks that make up Wysing Forest than that might imply though. 'Amphis' lurches on sawing, unpredictable machine noise, while the twinkling 'Free Migration' is pinned down by a heavy, thudding rhythm. 'Tree Spirit' marks a sparse and reflective moment, buzzing bleeps contorted and bent out of shape. 'The Balance Of Power' is perhaps the most cinematic, growing from barely there trickles of noise into a glistening synth vista. The fact that Wysing Forest was recorded over just a six week period perhaps adds to its singularity. Abbott has created a unique and absorbing world, and has done so masterfully.