Whatever the Weather — Whatever the Weather II

Across a remarkable run of releases in barely half a decade, London’s Loraine James has established her identity through a blend of refined composition, gritty experimentation, and unpredictable, intricate electronic programming. While titles released under her given name on Hyperdub tend toward IDM-influenced, vocal-heavy collaborations, James reserves her Ghostly International-signed alias, Whatever The Weather, for an inward gaze that explores innate “emotional temperature” and environment (shown in degree-based track titling). Her second full-length is a markedly warmer outing compared to its predecessor, as signaled by the shift from LP1’s arctic cover photo to LP2’s desert climes. Common to both albumsis the mastering work of friend and collaborator Josh Eustis(aka Telefon Tel Aviv), who lends his keen ear to James’ complexities to craft a strikingly three-dimensional sonic experience. Flowing from hypnotic atmospheres to mottled rhythms to processed collages of diaristic field recordings, Whatever The Weather II is a compelling union of organic and human elements from one of electronic music’s most imaginative talents. The lead single and closing track to Whatever The Weather’s(Loraine James) new LP, “12°C”, drifts from bustling human spaces into a concrete groove, weaving melody and texture into a truly unusual, soul-stirring fullness. In its final moments, a languid acoustic guitar and gentle, finger-tapped beat join her pitch-shifted voice. Whatever The Weather II is full of such passages, where formal composition appears like a film in negative, and conventions are upturned with wit, intelligence, and skill.