Washed Out

Washed Out has an appropriate name. His songs are wreathed in swirls of reverb and melancholy, a wall of sound that masks and fades the slo-mo disco beats into the audio equivalent of a crumbling letter from a forgotten lover. Belong channels Arthur Russells Get Round To It with a similar stepping bass and yearning vocal style, taken and made glorious with the addition of surging magical strings and chattering castanets. There is no self indulgence on show- when the song is done it comes to an abrupt halt, leaving a faint shimmer in the air. The solo project of Ernest Greene, a multi instrumentalist from Georgia, Washed Out manages to make nostalgia sound futuristic, and has a fine selection of tracks on his myspace demonstrating a breadth to his vision that bodes well for further releases. Look out for shows in the UK through June.

Ian Mcquaid

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