Thunderclap Spring

Genre: Experimental / Dream-pop / Shoegaze / Lo-fi / Ambient / Alternative / Indie / Folk

Babare was born in Australia, raised in ashrams, and has arrived in London by way of Japan, aged 19. The prevailing mood of his debut album is a peaceful, albeit wistful evocation of misted hyperboreal forests, and – since he mentions it – an idealised version of commune lifestyle, tepees and jam-sessions among the trees. Many of the individual tunes are so subtle that they don’t impinge any more than their neighbours, but the flipside of that is: Thunderclap Spring works as a suite you want to hear in its entirety. Penultimate track Sweet Bees, Brother Bear does stand out, with its loose, powerful drumming, and leads into the gorgeously short-and-sweet Lanterns whose double-tracked vocals and refrain of “if we go / we all go together…” make it the most understated sing-along album-closer ever.