Nueen - Circular Sequence (2021)

Bliss-kissed balearic ambience from Mallorca’s Nueen, arriving on Quiet Time Tapes in the glistening wake of their gorgeous ‘Nova Llum’ turn for GMT. RIYL Huerco S., Ulla, Pataphysical ‘Circular Sequence’ sees Nueen take inspiration from their unusually quiet home island, which - depleted of tourists - revealed itself in new ways. While patently fitting of the balearic descriptor, the seven tracks of ‘Circular Sequence’ deftly sidestep that sound’s cheesier aspects to get right under the skin and experiment with its quintessence, resulting in a much more personalised and intimate conception of balearic ambient that may actually be too quiet and subtle for even chill out rooms. The sound is unmistakably warm and woozy, synaesthetically connoting the feel of sun on skin and bright light gradating to dusk over its gentle narrative arc, with the gossamer pads of ’Soft Air’ melting into the vaporous contrails of ’Syn’ and feathered dance of ‘Moving II’ with sublime sensuality, before ‘the subtly frayed, lemniscate loops of ‘Decoding’ give way to heart-in-mouth crepuscularity of ‘A Pattern’ and the Ulla-esque temple stroke of ‘Wait Until Then’ parts to the puckered balearic guitar strums of ‘Departure’ and we’re ready to do it all again.