Album Review: Goldbug, Swings & Roundabouts

Goldbug, whose real name is Danilo Ward, spent the first years of his life being raised in a religious commune in Provence, France. Now based in Dublin, he says that his music “draws inspiration from forgotten places and the creatures that inhabit them.”

You get a visceral sense of this listening to Ward’s exquisite debut, Swings & Roundabouts, produced in collaboration with Chris Ryan (Robocobra Quartet, NewDad, Just Mustard). Ward’s quietly ethereal music conjures a fine sense of place, while reminding us how we might feel distant from it.

His voice is hushed and intimate, making  ‘Aqueduct’ a sumptuous opener. But Ward is also grounded, with a varied sound. There’s an involved drama to ‘I Said You Said’, while ‘Will-O’-The-Wisp’ boasts a darker, more industrial edge, and ‘Backyard Birdbath’ incorporates field recording sounds to excellent effect. Absorbing.

• Out now.