Album Review: Oliver Downes - Ultraviolet

There's a particular sparkle of anticipatory magic before the curtain lifts at the theatre. Sounds can capture this feeling - an orchestra tuning up, a collective hush as silence settles, a single note from a grand piano.

This is the essence spun through Oliver Downes' baroque pop debut Ultraviolet. Solemn, subtle, Hang & Abide balances haunting, poetic balladry with simplistic percussion, piano and ambient strings. Cinematic variation is the record's charm; even grating string scratches throughout Heat Of The Day only add to the vividness of Downes' landscape. Ultraviolet paints a layered, eccentric sonic curtain that's just waiting to rise.