Label: 4AD
Released: 25th March 2022
Aldous Harding’s fourth album, ‘Warm Chris’ unfurls like a long-buried memory, shaking off its dust mites and cranking into life. The whole record tilts constantly between dawn and twilight, not sure whether the sun is coming or going, but keeping you in that suspended state of gentle light. As such, it marries as nicely with a morning coffee as a bedtime nightcap, bookending the day with carnival melodies and simple feeling.
Opening track, ‘Ennui’, provides a gently tripping lullaby, a hint of suave darkness introduced with the brass notes lurking in the background. The sound transforms into the sunny day melody of ‘Tick Tock’, with the growling vocals of the verses contrasting coolly with the sugary lightness of those from the chorus. In just three minutes, it neatly demonstrates the metamorphic quality of the New Zealand artist’s vocal delivery. ‘Fever’ provides a standout from the album, one with all the swaggering cool of your favourite indie dreamboat, hair slicked back and leather jacket just slightly outsized. It’s a song for low, slow dancing and fierce eye-contact; listen to it to for the prickles of power across your skin.
The title-track provides a gentle, cerebral alternative to the androgynous groove of ‘Fever’, the light pattering of rain in the background transporting you to quiet Sunday afternoons and a generative state of mind. It’s a motif that returns later in the album, helping to gloss the record with a feeling of completeness that leaves you feeling satisfied.
