Staff Reviews

Washed Out - Within and Without

Review by William Grant

Washed Out always stood above his supposed peers.»

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mr chillwave himself justifies the hype generated by his early eps with nine effortlessly blissful slices of warped songcraft. washed out is the operational alias for atlanta, ga's ernest greene, and weird world release the first washed out full-length, 'within and without'. greene recorded 'within and without' with ben allen, who, among a great many other things, co-produced animal collective's 'merriweather post pavillion', gnarls barkley's 'st elsewhere' and deerhunter's 'halcyon digest'. in 2009 washed out released two critically-acclaimed eps; 'life of leisure' (mexican summer) and 'high times' (mirror universe tapes). washed out submerges a sense of intense feeling within its '80s-fantasy electronic ether. the yearning-in-utero effect is strongest on woozy centerpiece 'feel it all around.' with blurry singing, cheap-sounding synths, and a humid, syrupy flow, the track suggests an '80s synth pop hit that won't come straight out and cop to itself - or a young man in love, too tongue-tied (or too stoned?) to admit it.
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