Atmospheric, ambient, chill, late-night, somewhat-experimental-pop-dream-hop-post-rock, maybe. Last Days is Graham Richardson and this album has the scope of a movie soundtrack. The ambitious record follows a story of “Alice” who moves with her family to a desolate, isolated land and adjusts to a new life. This is a record of escape, loneliness, hope, and finding one’s place. It is hard to pin this down. Easily cinematic, lush, rich, layered pop. I think fans of more minimalistic electronic trip hop will also like this. I want to say this is similar to M83, but it really isn’t. Some of this is trippy, druggy, slooow building stuff. I can sort of trace influence to My Bloody Valentine, Fennesz, Sigur Ros, and Air. This is more melodic and layered than most post-rock, smoother, and less noisy and piercing than most shoegaze, more accessible than most ambient or electronica, and is more spacious, orchestral, and unpredictable than most dream pop. I really love this-it really struck a chord with me. Please check it out; all tracks are awesome. 2 is a pop song, so you can definitely play something off this record if you aren’t into the description so far. No FCCs.

1. Dreamy, slow guitars and layers, bass, fades to ominous rumbling, sounds of rain, melodic textures, sampling. (4:58)
*2. Chill. Straightforward acoustic guitar and sweet, feathery female vocals, layers of lush atmospherics come in, electronic drums, touches of piano, ends about 15 seconds early. (3:10)
3. Chugging percussion, guitars, samples, very rhythmic, cyclical in nature, bells strike. Sort of chill trip hop with a sample. (2:12)
*4. Acoustic guitar plays a hypnotic riff while synths (and maybe horns?) develop a moving progression, builds with some percussion to washes of melodic layers. Soaking, effects-laden guitars come in for the climax. Slow release and glitch-y sample for the last 0:40. (6:11)
5. Sample of a kid (speaking about animals and the arctic) starts immediately, synths come in to fill the sound. (3:06)
*6. Lush melodic textures swirl behind a slow piano line. Builds with interweaving guitar lines and rising synth lines. (4:54)
*7. Blips and bloops of a sample start this off. Piano hesitantly dances around a soothing melody, some acoustic guitar comes in too. Percussion comes in and warm synths, bells, and chimes continue. (6:52)
8. Gloomy synths and bass rumble under ominous sounds. Dreamy layers come in slowly. (3:21)
*9. Chilling samples open this with a slow, underwater dreamy soundscape. Builds with thick, muted layers and space out. Distorted guitars close the track. (5:06)
*10. Field recordings open. A slow, cautious piano, guitar trade back and forth and then lush synths come in. (4:20)
*11. Shorter piece, lovely wrenching melody. (2:04)
**12. Slow builder with dreamy layers. Sigur Ros-esque. Noisier guitars come up front in the mix, and later, some melodic piano. Strings weep near the end of the track. (5:58)
13. Keys are struck in ominous, minor key, slow synth build, twinkling space out. (3:46)
14. Tense, droney synth opens, samples hiss under slow piano and moody layers of strings and synths, which fade out into bells and more samples. (3:57)
**15. Fades in with some sampling to a synthy/some sort of percussion trade-off lead part. Triumphant horns and bells augment the sound. Cathartic closing track. Some hand claps, marching snare come in with strings for a beautiful, yet restrained, bittersweet post-rocky conclusion. (6:21)