Sink Into The Ether

UK producer Stumbleine's seventh album is chilled, heavenly and thought provoking. The album envelops the listener from the outset with the soft, pitched sway of "Sonder". The track ebbs through calming shadows, showcasing Stumbleine's warm, electronic glow and gamut of influences, with hushed hypnotic delayed sounds, vocal samples and snappy beats. Stumbleine's skill at blending an array of electronic timbres washes over the largely instrumental record, exemplified in "Supermodels", with it's lo-fi chorus-drenched haze building to an emotional, percussion-driven climax. Here, and scattered about the album, RnB vocals are chopped-up, but glistening a dark, dreamy hue. A cover of the Hole song, "Malibu" features Elizabeth Heaton of Midas Fall. Her delicate, dream-like vocals waft over the hazy instrumental waves like tendrils of smoke, as they both grow ever more desperate, and slowly crash. Elsewhere on the album tracks like 'Lost To The World' come together more immediately with flourishing synths and soaring backdrops overlaid by a heady bass and intricate beats, while 'White Noise Therapy' invokes a cinematic Tokyo-set film score peppered with playful soft pianos. "Lost To the World" swings in addictive pitched-vocal punches, circling itself into a spiral. "Your Angel Was Fake" has a hopeful darkness about it, recalling electronic shoegaze and witch house artists of the early 2010s. It scales and then pulls away, at once breathing and stopping, full of blanket synth pads and subtle snaps of percussion.1. Sonder 2. Aloof 3. Malibu (ft Elizabeth Heaton) 4. My Head Hurts 5. Lost To The World 6. Tidepool 7. Words Fail Me 8. Supermodels 9. White Noise Therapy 10. Your Angel Was A Fake 11. Disintegrate Together