Sydney-based producer / songwriter Joshua Gibbs first appeared under his Setec alias back in 2012 with his acclaimed debut EP ‘I’ll Be Good’, and two years on this download-only album on Feral Media ‘Brittle As Bones’ finally offers up his anticipated first longplayer. Perhaps the best description that applies to the nine tracks collected here is electronically enabled dream folk-pop, with Gibbs crafting his lulling downbeat arrangements around delicate acoustic instrumentation, vintage looped samples, his own treated vocals and found sound percussion. At times there’s almost a sense of the sorts of manipulated vocal harmony experimentation explored by the likes of Panda Bear colliding with the sorts of acoustic sample textures you’d associate with Four Tet or Koushik. ‘Haunted’ opens proceedings with rich guitar bends stretching out blissfully against a lush backdrop of swelling orchestral samples and lazy bass runs as Gibb’s delayed vocal stretches off into the distance, the entire track calling to mind the unhurried ebb and roll of peaceful ocean waves more than anything else.
‘Water Or Concrete’ meanwhile sees a ringing percussion loop tracing a path beneath delicate bell tones, bluesy guitar slides and Gibb’s melancholic vocals, before a vintage sample locks in against the lyrics alongside slow juddering hip hop beats, bringing out the sense of lulling circular flow even more. Elsewhere, ‘Tiny Seed, A Leaf, A Tree’ sees a scratchy sampled male vocal loop merging with Gibb’s own layered harmonies and feathery acoustic guitar strokes as rich piano chords shift into the foreground, in an offering that calls to mind Appalachian folk as the rolling layers of vocal harmonies drift slightly amidst the mesmerising background textural details. A gorgeous debut from a local artist who definitely deserves to be better known. You can get ‘Brittle As Bones’ as a name your price download from https://feralmedia.bandcamp.com/album/brittle-as-bones
