A Lily - "Wake:Sleep" (Dynamophone)

A Lily is the side project of Yndi Halda guitarist James Vella, but it is a million miles from Yndi's rich, cinematic textures. Instead, "Wake:Sleep" is a delicate and charming album that chimes, chirps and bleeps in all of the right places.

"I Am To You" opens the album and features a gorgeous toybox melody mixed with floating beats and breathy vocals.

There is highly inventive programming on tracks such as the seductive French sampling on "Aerials Quiet and Death-Defying", while "Lights Shone Brighter, My Delicate Sun Is My Sparklin' Sun" features samples of children and Japanese voices, that helps create a mood that evokes images of the good times when growing up as kids.

Other great tracks include, the euphoric "Leanna Is A Quiet Meow", the drum programming is so delicate that it is in danger of being blown away by a gust of wind.

There is a real Four Tet or Xela flavour to the album, especially on tracks like "The Sleepers", while the album veers into Stars Of The Lid territory for closing tracks "Arms Around Sleep" and the very long "The Shipwreck".

"Wake:Sleep" manages to be both atmospheric and playful at the same time. It will gradually lull you into a state of semi-consciousness as you float around with the beautiful, chiming melodies and paper-thin beats.

It shows a musician willing to reach out to the stars and pull something special back. Excellent.

It was released on Dynamophone Records in June order it here, and sample some tracks at myspace. You can also download the first series of the Dynamophone mini-compliation here. Finally, there is also an intriguing interview with James Vella about "Wake:Sleep" here.