Melbourne musician Nick Sowersby sculpts a dizzying sound under the moniker Sunbeam Sound Machine. His debut album, Wonderer, paints an introspective sonic palette that succeeds by its own modest standards.
Sowersby bleaches his work in a way that leaves a gauzy glow wrapped around everything, while at the same time injects a deliberate sense of unease, with off-kilter instrumentals that ooze into the listener’s ear sockets like sad confetti. Shaped in his Collingwood garage, Wonderer is a hazy 13-track odyssey of light-textured pop hooks that lurk beneath breathy vocals and dollops of distortion.
From start to finish, Sowersby serves up a pool of tracks which all manage the same trick – each song is drenched in reverb, with saturated guitar lines drowning the vocals away. Mid-paced tracks like Daibutsu, Zeds and Infinity + 1 contain viciously atmospheric hooks of mumbled bass, layered experimentation and crystalline drum beats that pack a fuller punch.
Autumnal floats things to the outskirts with a smooth shimmer of synth, before an excellent record fades out completely to a blissful end in Sailing Away.
BY KIERA THANOS
Best Track: In Your Arms
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: DUCKTAILS, DIIV, BEACH HOUSE
In A Word: Sedated
