Tourist 'U' Review

Creating cut up electronic music with the dancefloor in mind offers a wealth of possibilities, with the accessible garglings of Flume a world away from more esoteric underground figures like Markus Wormstorm - both equally as adept in their own manner.

Brighton beatsmith William Phillips aka Tourist probably sits a little closer to the more commercially minded Australian on the spectrum, with debut offering U a record even your average Disclosure fan has a chance of enjoying. There's many who'll be drawn into it by the energetic leaps of joy on recent single 'Run' and last year's still utterly gorgeous 'Waves', but there's plenty else here to keep the more demanding listener entranced.

'To Have you Back' blends high pitched coos of pleasure with mournful snippets of vocals repeating the titular refrain, all set over swooning chords and swooping drums. The percussion is the star of the show on 'Foolish', a track which combines so much it strays dangerously close to the kind of busy over produced electronica which gives the genre a bad name. Luckily Phillips' considerable nous behind the boards keeps it all in check, reaching delirium upon the introduction of some Super Mario melodies midway through.

There's definitely a clear influence of Caribou running throughout the record, with Dan Snaith's irresistible ability to draw melancholic almost hurtful emotion from his synths clearly rubbing off. That's probably most obvious on the dreamy closer 'For Sarah', as good an ending to any album as you'll hear this year, but this is still an album which showcases a producer bestowed with plenty of his own originality.

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