May: 18 albums you need to hear this month

Dark Sky 'Othona' (Monkeytown Records)

Dark Sky build a colourful landscape out of textured electronic sounds inspired by field recordings and photos from isolated landscapes they’ve visited while touring. Fusing intriguing melodies (‘JJJ’) with shape-shifting rhythms (‘Cyan’), Matt Benyayer and Tom Edwards pick up where 2014’s debut album ‘Imagin’ left off. Gentle opener ‘Othona’ eases in emotive pads and nostalgic synths, ‘The Walker’ transforms melancholy into euphoria and ‘Angels’ is the adventurous highlight before heavier, kick drum-indebted closer ‘Field Tower’. Bridging the gap between electronica, British bass music and techno, ‘Othona’ ties together the atmospheric styles of Gold Panda, Bonobo and Throwing Snow perfectly.

8/10