Natura - Drum & Lace (2022)

Ideated from: ending the year with some of my favorites of 2022 that I hadn’t written up yet.

Nobody does blogrolls anymore but if I did, mine would definitely feature A Closer Listen. I don’t like all the styles they post about, but I always appreciate the vast array of releases they cover that don’t show up most other places.

This was another one I heard about from them, and it quickly became a favorite for the year.

Synths, vocals, strings, and the occasional room-filling kick drum make for beautiful texture. It builds a nice house-inspired beat that stays variable and interesting from section to section and track to track.

The mind behind Drum & Lace has done some of her early work in soundtracks, and it shows. There’s a lot of emotive detail here.

Tracks I Liked

Waxing Crescent - house bordering on trance.

Prasiano - slow to build, slow to resolve

Moss - one of the more film-score-sounding ones, but still very effective

Sirens - Shimmering and gorgeous