Albums
November: 18 albums you need to hear this month
Pangaea, Romare, Mandar and more
Phaeleh 'Illusion Of The Tale' (Undertow)
As a maker of floaty dubstep and post-dubstep, Phaeleh has often been hit and miss – technically super adept as a producer and occasionally hitting the spot emotionally, but too often bland and lacking in identity. But when he’s making ambient, as he did on his 2014 record ‘Somnus’ and does on new album ‘Illusion Of The Tale’, too, he seems entirely at home. Here, freed from pressures of club and radio, he can give full rein to his studio skill and love of texture, and does so over 17 long soundscapes. They’re not experimental or noisy, more like soundtracks to imaginary sci-fi films. Chimes ripple, fizzing chords rise up to the starlit sky and the whole thing wills you to close your eyes and levitate along with it. Absolutely gorgeous stuff.
8/10
