"This Loves Last Time"
Bell Horses
4.5 stars

This is a city that seems to pride itself on compounding stress. Subways depart within seconds of arriving, cyclists dodge pedestrians at crosswalks, and car horns blare in every direction. But there's hope yet — an escape, if you will, that can be found in the ambient soundscapes of Bell Horses' debut album "This Loves Last Time."

The opening surges of strings in "Still Life" soon give way to a softly chirping guitar, a bass guitar coated in stardust and the randomized twittering of electronic blips. Jenny Owen Youngs' fragile croons are supplanted by a soaring, melancholy call to a lover in the chorus.

"Billowing," the midpoint track of the album, features a variety of delectable experimental textures, ranging from reverberating, ghostly vocals to a funky crescendo of electro-strings and pattering percussion.

One of the band's most arresting achievements, "The Storm," begins with a whisper of electronic mist, dissolving into a melodic acoustic guitar accompanied by the carefully delivered "I can't wait/To find your heart." The whispering mist returns periodically, as if trying to strangle the resolve of the vocalist. But Youngs' plucking becomes more determined, and she employs punchy yet delicate drums and rattles, eventually prevailing over her assailant.

The final track, "Dust of Us," begins with confident strumming and pounding percussion, carrying over the momentum from the previous song. Interspersed in the mix, however, are screeching bleeps and a reverberating storm of sonic disruption. Youngs strains her voice to be heard just before the storm takes over, drowning the percussion and guitar, reducing them to nothing. Ominous whistling signals the end of a relationship, finally subsiding as the track ends.

"This Loves Last Time" suggests falling beauty, and it takes the listener along in that decline. It soothes with its melodious vocals and the quiet, settling fog of electronica.

— William Ward