It's sad to see that the lowly vowel is getting bullied out of language these days. I can handle a Weeknd or even a Chvrches at a push. But try getting your smart speaker to play cxlt.. It won't. It doesn't have a clue what you're talking about. At best you might get Ian Astbury shouting back at you. In 2021 you'd think the smart speaker is a consideration for musicians when picking a name. Or even some consistency in how people are going to refer to you. Apparently not for this young Dutch producer who insists on a full stop at the end of his randomly selected letters. Thanks.

Cxlt.'s latest album, Your Light, is his third this year, amazingly. Nothing about this record however suggests impatience or fast living. From the moment you pick it up, before pressing play, the title and stunning cover art start to strip away the stress and burdens of everyday life. The title track that opens the record has a muted, gentle drum beat floating on top of an ambient river of sound accented by subtle piano and the occasional ambiguous vocal sample. You'll do well to not fall in to a blissful waking sleep listening to this.

The production style and general themes of the music are consistent throughout all tracks which really seems necessary for any of this to work so he has taken the right approach there. You will find gentle variations in the drum beats of some tracks but never to a point that it will break your meditative state. The piano tones are a familiar friend that guide you through the record but the accompanying ingredients do differ enough to give many of the tunes their own individuality. Are We Still Dreaming features what could be interpreted as digital whale sound during its midway bridge and the catalog of effects travel across the stereo range to help build on the already rich atmosphere. Reflection In The Water is backed by the ghost of a children's music box which, when the beat kicks in, sounds as though it is dropped in to an ocean possibly not of this earth.

The biggest criticism of this record is that every track ends too soon. Although it is marketed as an album we are only given eight tracks totaling twenty one minutes of music. Barely enough for a relaxing bath. Cxlt.'s releases to date all seem to be very thematic so it would be good to have a little more content in each so we can stay in those worlds a little longer.

If we can all get comfortable with pronouncing Mr. Cxlt.'s name then there's a big future for this guy. Your Light will sink you so far in to your mattress you'll barely be able to get out. Cxlt. has created a 3 dimensional artwork with this release with perfectly selected track names, title and cover art to compliment a beautiful selection of music. Please take a listen on Spotify or via the link below and let me know your thoughts.

Chris Peters