No Rules Sandy’s most experimental moment comes with its closer: it’s a light, swaying acoustic track with strong vocals cloaked in a kind of timidness. The song is beautiful, but written with a stock palette. It is experimental because it is how the project, filled with sharp, quietly innovative arpeggios, chooses to say farewell. With artistic assurance and playful mastering, Sylvan Esso unveil their pop deconstructions. Despite one ordinary ‘anthemic’ club track, the records bubbles and snaps towards the sincere sweetness of The XX and sophisticated, Jimmy Tamborello-esque beats. Nick Sanborn instrumentally reflects Amelia Meath’s disposition for the gently glorious.
24/30
A favourite: ‘Coming Back To You’
‘No Rules Sandy’ is out now via Loma Vista.
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