Beat Connection - Palace Garden

The warm, sunkissed synths which skitter their way through Beat Connection’s debut long player are couched in ample fuzz and urgent momentum to invoke equal parts nostalgia and maturation. ‘Palace Garden’ whizzes by in a haze of chillwave sonmambulance but, on the most part, is substantial enough to make a mark.

Propelled by an array of percussive adornments – cowbells, steel drums, maracas – and pleasant, empathetic vocals, the jaunty Seattle five-piece have created not so much an album of its time, more an album of its season. The summer invocations are consistent and often compelling. ‘Oeuvreboard’, the haziest, gauziest offering on the album is a gorgeous, slinking instrumental which seems to move in sun-drenched slow motion. ‘Trap House’ could be a Postal Service number remixed by Washed Out, the busy drum machines syncopating with the bass synths, vague vocal samples, all drowning in endless drifts of reverb while ‘The Other Side of the Sky’ is the most successful pop song, a deceptively gentle singalong.

However, it’s within the more abstract realms which the album works best, Beat Connection are certainly adept at adapting a mood and conveying some sense of sonic depth but the Balearic workouts of ‘Sometimes Wonder’ and ‘Think/Feel’ err just on the wrong side of style over substance. It’s debatable as to whether ‘Palace Garden’ would sound as effective in a couple of weeks time but for now Beat Connection – just – manage to succinctly soundtrack the last gasps of summer.