Within and Without, the debut album by Georgia’s Ernest Greene, AKA Washed Out, artfully matches the glossy melody of ‘80s synth pop, the widescreen scope of early ‘90s Balearic dance music and the slowed, heavy bounce of southern Hip Hop production to gorgeously wistful vocals with results as undeniably idiosyncratic and original as they were deeply accessible.
The result of this perhaps more considered approach to composition and enhanced production is a record that retains the jubilant, sun-kissed energy that lit up the imaginations of so many the first time around with Greene’s hugely influential Life of Leisure EP but also refines it – conjuring a far more nuanced and balanced sense of emotion from a more organic pallet of sounds and textures – at times almost orchestral in its arrangements and consistently, achingly beautiful in its effortless, longing melody.
Tracklisting:
1. Eyes Be Closed
2. Echoes
3. Amor Fati
4. Soft
5. Far Away
6. Before
7. You And I (feat. Caroline Polachek)
8. Within and Without
9. A Dedication