The Daily Spin, May 17
Washed Out | Within and Without
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Within and Without (2011)
Artist: Washed Out
Link:
This is chillwave in its early days, before the genre had really gained much of a footing. As such, albums like Within and Without were met with some derision, some confusion, and a level of trepidation - but when it sounds like this, it’s hard not to fall in love, at least a little bit.
It’s the echoes of so much music that has come later - in ‘You and I’ I heard Neon Indian and Flume, in ‘Soft’ echoes of Beach Fossils and Real Estate - some contemporaries, such, but Washed Out was a pioneer in this regard, and it’s pretty phenomenal to get a taste of this genre and his word near enough to its genesis.
Where - if anywhere - the record slips is that it’s almost a little too chill, at points. I had this one on while I was working and doing some chores around the house, and around the third loop I realized that I wasn’t actually sure I’d be able to pick any of the songs out individually. They tend to become background noise in such a manner that you forget that they’re there entirely, a double-edged sword wielded with crafty precision.
I envision myself driving along the California coast to this album, a slow pan from a drone up the cliffside as the credits roll. Figure that’s a pretty great aspiration for any album.
Rating: 8.7/10
Best Tracks: Soft; You and I
Worst Tracks: Amor Fati