Sad City

This mini-album from Glasgow, UK-based Gary Caruth (under the moniker Sad City) is the first release in 2013 for Phonica's Special Editions series. Less than half-an-hour-long, Caruth presents four blissed-out tracks full of swirling synths, sun-soaked haze and muted beats. The synths on "Polymath" evoke the mid-'90s output of Warp Records (think µ-Ziq during his least fractured moments on In Pine Effect), which together with the layered vocal samples are reminiscent of the dreamy surfer ambience of Ghostly International's Tycho. "Easing" recalls Apparat, with its circulating Reich-ian patterns, whereas the ten-minute "What I Talk About" livens things up a bit, with its mechanical clockwork rhythms rising above the more linear synth part. You Will Soon Find That Life Is Wonderful may not be groundbreaking, but it is a sumptuous chill-out release full of nostalgic references that equally makes for ideal poolside or late night listening.