Blue Hawaii's Blooming Summer kept us warm throughout a bitter winter a couple years back, and the pairing comprising BRAIDS' Raphaelle Standell-Preston and Alex Cowan, the acquaintance that instantaneously became accomplice, here return with their most polished spheres of impeccably rounded sound to date. Thankfully, they've a full-length a little more
full due out early next year by the name of
Untogether, and to tide us over 'til then we've this two-parter into which we may dive, to which we may jive, and again chase away the frostbite. The first segment of In Two takes a tenderly processed vocal – Standell-Preston sighing: "Oh God/ Has left me/ In two/ Not knowing where to go" as further harmonies oscillate about her inimitably peach-soft tones – only to soon break out into a grubby, tribalistic skulk. Immediately evocative of both
Eye Contact and
Visions it's a finely tweaked and meticulously honed composition of unconventional, yet in no way underdone lo-fi techno. Standell-Preston's vocals hem the thing into place – they're the perfect fit; both versatile and vulnerable – although that they're largely absent from its second part allows the seemingly
Jiaolong-inspired R'n'Beat thriller to speak up for itself.
Arbutus are onto another winner, or so it'd prematurely seem with, with
Untogether.
DOWNLOAD:
Blue Hawaii, In Two /
In Two II.
Blue Hawaii's Bandcamp.
