Leif – Loom Dream

Leif Knowles has spent much of the past decade perfecting a particular sound, one that drifts easily between ambience and groove, with a mood that suggests a kind of zen-like embrace of nature and the sublime. It's a sound that reflects the vibe at Freerotation, the Welsh festival where he's a resident, and that, for my money, reached something near perfection on TIO-Series, a 10-inch label that gave us two of his best records so far. In the past year or so, Knowles dabbled in more purely ambient music, playing a beatless set at Freerotation and turning in an excellent mix on the same tip for Blowing Up The Workshop. Loom Dream, his new mini-album on Whities, is his most ambient record yet, and feels like it's missing something as a result, even if it meets his lofty standard in other ways.