Transparent Viinyl. The special thrill of hearing an artist grow into their voice is emphatically served by the debut album from Ed Riman, the half-Welsh, half-Indonesian, London-based singer-songwriter and sound-scapist who records as Hilang Child. Released through Bella Union, Years radiates a rich sense of self-discovery in its lush, textured layers of sound and feeling. Between its blossoming choruses, multi-tracked harmonies and loose theme of embracing adulthood, it’s an epiphanic debut from an artist not just fulfilling his early promise but reaching far beyond it. His harmonies and spacious sounds have drawn comparisons to Fleet Foxes and Sigur R?s, but it was Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys’ Smile that first inspired Riman to do “something beautiful and unusual with vocals”. Other influences include Imogen Heap, Bat for Lashes, Steve Reich, Paul Thomas Saunders, Hundred Waters and Nobuo Uematsu: feted explorers in sound and mood all. Collaborators on Years included Kwes, who helped on the mix and added “little touches here and there,” says Riman, “which really made it feel complete”.
