Album Review: Gwilym Gold - A Paradise

Gold's second solo album shifts away from the conceptual abstraction of Tender Metal to wallow in soft, sensuous textures and hypnotically dreamy soulfulness.

The finely wrought results follow a formula that brings together elegantly minimal piano, Nico Muhly's orchestral embellishments and shimmering strings, Darkstar and Hyetal's bassy electronic maneuvers and of course Gold's yearning and vulnerable falsetto. Comparison to James Blake is inevitable but the dreamy, almost shapeless drift of this album offers a masterclass in how to craft mood with restraint and subtlety. A remarkably mature album, it shouldn't be allowed to slip below our collective radars.