Anticon records
Cerulean is the auspicious debut of L.A.'s Baths. Evolving out of Will Wiesenfeld's varied [Post-Foetus] project, and inspired by the energy of the city's burgeoning beat scene (Daedelus introduced Anticon to Baths), the record represents a clear departure from both – an often warm, acoustic-fueled electronic music that hews closer to the work of contemporaries like Toro Y Moi. By combining songwriting with self-sampling, raw musicianship with synthesized textures, and field recordings with propulsive beats, Baths has created a seething sound-cloud packed with bright moments and prone to unexpected turns.
The effect is more baroque pop than bass thump – a digitally infused dust storm that sounds like vintage Broken Social Scene gone glitch, eclectic, spinning rich gloom out of organic, Books-like cut-and-paste and Baths' strange, soulful crooning. Baths excels at crafting thick, living compositions that, while dense, never sound needlessly busy. To this end he employs guitars, bass, various keys, snapping scissors, clicking pens, rustling blankets and more.In either case, Cerulean handily portrays Baths as a vital new talent unbound by genre and spurred on by song.
