Album Review: Sophie Hutchings - Wide Asleep

In recent years there has been a wealth of composers that fall into the loosely aligned world of modern classical, post-ambient, avant-electronic and instrumental post-rock.

They draw from all of those styles and explore their compositional meeting points. Locally, our leading light is Sophie Hutchings and here, on her third album, she again finds new and fascinating ways to create cerebral and emotionally rich and ornate arrangements, led by her piano but greatly enhanced with strings and ghostly, layered voices. Falling and Living Light are the high points with their contrasting approaches to twilight melancholia. Hutchings' ability to work in the light as eloquently as she explores darkness marks this album as her most expansive and resonant work to date.