Sis: Vibhuti – Album Review
Out Now on Native Cat Recordings
Digital
Blending elements of jazz, psychedelia and synth-pop within the central pin of electronic music, Sis has made a name for herself with support from Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6 Music and reviews across massive platforms including Pitchfork.
Now back with the new album Vibhuti, Sis continues to showcase the feverish experimentation and ear for beautifully intertwining musicality which has seen her acclaimed so far.
Opening with the layered, organic, gentle tones of Cave Of Plenty, the album instantly sets an ethereal jazz tinted tone, through a vale of dappled wind chimes, plucks of guitar and playful brass across a 2.30 instrumental.
Leading into Mothers Grace, a previous single, the driving percussion heavy drums and pulsing synth loops which characterise Sis’s sound come to the fore, as she delivers half chanted vocals above the growing soundscape. Capturing an ethereal, hypnotic and almost meditative tone comparable to Morcheeba, the use of different textures, layers of melodies and varied instrumentation, gradually entering and leaving is truly entrancing, giving the music an experimental flourish.
Balancing the electronic heartbeat of the track with the feel of Latin-jazz, the track’s blend of organs, live bass, synths, samba infused drums creates a strikingly unique soundscape under commanding lead vocals.
Elsewhere across the album Splendour takes a more muted, emotive approach through its muted beats, clean guitar tones and twinkling synths. Instrumental Jugaspa captures a spacey, ethereal sense of wonder while Center Of The Heart grows from glitchy experimentation to a Euphoric climax comparable to the likes of Jamie XX and Caribou.
Track 9, Mystic Spider brings more of the jazz-come-electronica blend before the album ends with the punch 4 to the floor, swirling synths and pitched guitar loops of Stargate Road.
A beautiful, experimental and spell-bindly euphoric album packing some creative ideas, cinematic soundscaping and at times, surprisingly catchy melodies, Vibhuti continues where Sis’ previous work left off. An artist in the truest sense, Sis’ eagerness to not just write music but to push boundaries is plainly clear across her material, and flourishes on the new 10 track release. While it is not for every listener, to those who like a challenge, the album is a rich, passionate and heartfelt journey to float away to.
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All words by Simon Lucas-Hughes. More writing by Simon Lucas-Hughes can be found at his author’s archive.
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