Coyote - Harlyn Bay

Coyote's album 'Harlyn Bay' hit the stores about three weeks back (maybe four), if you haven't yet discovered or procured a copy for yourself, perhaps the time is now. Coyote are Timm Sure and Ampo and in the relatively short time they have been releasing music through their label Is It Balearic? Recordings, they've managed to work with heavyweights Max Essa, Aeroplane, Phoreski, Rune Linbaek and Windsurf, they've put out 6 EP's of drifting Balearic loveliness, and more recently they released their superb remix of Mudd & Pollard's 'Scaffold' on 10" and a brand spanking new Deadstock 33 12" with an excellent remix from The Main Stem (yeah them, you already know we love them).

'Harlyn Bay' is a fine and mellow, synth heavy, thing of beauty and for all it's beachy, summer references it is more than just a seasonal 'chill out' album (after all it is bloody winter here and I'm really enjoying it); it's clearly the culmination of a great deal of time spend in the studio cultivating their 'sunshine in a bottle' magic and probably their studio tans too. There is a familiarity about this set of tracks, sprinkled as they are with tried and tested 'chill out' ideas; travel, eastern philosophy, dub, meditation, Cafe del Mar surf and sand culture, the joy of children, spirituality, foreign lands etc. And yet when brewed in with their thick mesmerizing beats and super lush melodies, it sounds classic rather than derivative, very beautiful infact.

In retrospect (say over the last 20 years) it's not all that often that a 'chill out' album comes along that has the strength to become era defining; KLF's 'Chill Out' or Ultramarine's 'Every Man and Woman Is A Star', or Nightmares On Wax's 'Smokers Delight' or Larry Heards 'Alien' for example. This album has that classic feel to it and if it doesn't reach such lofty heights, it will certainly be amongst the top albums of the year. Listen to "California" below, and make a stop in at your local record store to pick up a copy...