Introducing… Sunset Graves

Here at Bearded we aim to shed light on acts who don't necessarily have giant labels or muscley budgets waving banners behind them. This Introducing series will focus on artists who we think are great, regardless of how much hype surrounds them or where their origin story lays.

Bio
Name: Sunset Graves
Location: UK
Genre: Ambient/Downtempo
Similar Artists: Eluvium, God Is An Astronaut
Contact: Facebook, Twitter
Events: New single 'Your Ghost Is Formed' out May 19th, and new LP Form Your Ghost out June 9th

Andy Fosberry, the alter-ego of Sunset Graves (or is that the other way around?), only released a record back in October of last year. His debut LP, entitled Variant, won him barrowloads of support, with tastemakers up and down the country applauding his potent brew of ambient, sample-heavy electronica, post-rock and downtempo trip-hop. Now, less than a year later, he's set to return to the domain of albumdom with full-length numero dos, Form Your Ghost, scheduled for release this coming June.



If lead single 'Your Ghost Is Formed' (pre-order here) is anything to go by, the record's a surefire hit. Bolstering his burgeoning rep as one of the UK's most affective and subtle electronic talents, his brand of cinematic noise relies less on climactic melodrama and more on the gradual acceleration of layers, the hack'n'slash approach to vocal samples and a penchant for minimalist synthesisers. Like classic Massive Attack and Portishead, Fosberry can summon immense emotional links from the depths with lurching basslines and beefy rhythm sections. On 'Your Ghost Is Formed', beats flicker and jerk, spasming out of sync to create a fluid percussion section that wonderfully underpins an equally fluid melodic streak. The synths are akin to whale song, dulcet and grand, smoothly soaring through a teal thicket; the soulful snippets of voice act as buttresses to that timbre, interjecting into the distance upon occasion like the slow roll of the tide. The focus is always on the rhythmic nature of the song, which verges upon hypnotic – at its base, this is dance.

Fosberry's craft clearly comes naturally if his work ethic/rate and calibre of output is anything to go by. He's not necessarily reinventing any wheel, and he slots nicely in the middle of the Venn Diagram of BATHS, Lamb and God Is An Astronaut, but he's giving that wheel a mighty good polish. It's a tactful, intriguing take on an ageing genre, and his additions of things like trip-hop and soul are what makes him a vital prospect in the genre's future. Sink into 'Your Ghost Is Formed', and then drown inside Form Your Ghost. Definitely one to watch.