Baths - Cerulean

Now essentially a byword for forward-thinking leftfield music, the Bay Area anticon. collective has been striving since before the turn of the century to redefine the boundaries between hip-hop, indie and all manner of electronic subgenres. With a roster that ranges from the existential rhymes of label co-founder Yoni Wolf’s WHY? project to the abstract soundscapes of Twin Cities producer Dosh, the imprint has certainly birthed much in the way of quality beat-centric sounds. Over a decade on from the label’s inception, however, it has yet to enjoy the fruits of a serious breakthrough album.
 
Enter stage-left 21-year-old L.A. resident and Björk obsessive Will Wiesenfeld (aka Baths) with his debut album Cerulean. Tagged misleadingly in some quarters as simply the latest slice of chillwave, the truth is that there’s far too much at swim here to allow for simple pigeonholing. Styles and moods tumble into one another, with more than a few about-turns across the album’s dozen tracks. In the wrong hands, such a pick’n’mix approach can often sound disjointed, like listening to a mixtape, or at best a series of stand-alone set-pieces. It’s to Wiesenfeld’s credit, then, that Cerulean flows rather than wanders, and its overall labyrinthine feel puts this listener in mind of Bibio’s endlessly enjoyable Ambivalence Avenue LP from last year.
 
Getting back to the chillwave tag, it’s certainly true that Baths has more in common with that scene’s woozy aesthetic than with, say, post-punk. Cuts like ‘Maximalist’ and ‘Plea’ radiate hazy glo-fi vibes reminiscent of a crimson sunset glimpsed from the bottom of a deserted swimming pool. But Wiesenfeld’s classically-trained chops (he was a piano prodigy before reaching teenhood) and emphasis on melody throughout ensure that Cerulean is a satisfyingly cut-and-thrust effort from start to finish. In contrast to chillwave’s often deliberate lack of focus, these are carefully layered workouts, none of which ever threaten to decompose before reaching your ears. As a result, there’s a sense of structure and solidity here that’s sadly absent from the likes of Toro Y Moi’s disappointingly tame recent debut.
 
As for that flow, take for instance how the giddy rhythm of 'Aminals' gently collapses under a wave of synth at the start of 'Rafting Starlit Everglades' – the latter a reverb-heavy gem that colonises the same part of the brain as Boards of Canada’s ‘Dayvan Cowboy’. Or the way in which 'Rain Smell''s introspective small-hours feel is woken up by 'Indoorsy''s soaring hook and cryptic refrain. Wiesenfeld is clearly an expert at engineering such subtle shifts in mood from one track to the next, while still maintaining an overall cohesion. This balancing act is sure to stand him in good stead when it comes time to deliver a follow-up. For now, though, Cerulean will do just fine. As for whether or not it might score a crossover hit for anticon, only time will tell. Don’t be surprised, though, to find this record mentioned on more than a few end-of-year lists.