Bleep

The skies have changed since Loraine James first turned to them for her Whatever The Weather project in 2022. While veteran artists might take a decade or two to circle back to aliases like this, James is determined to keep the ball rolling; still, a lot has happened in such a short time as she made ground with her prolific output. 2024 proved a year to hunker down and reflect on the legacy she has very quickly built, and create a followup album that solidly cements Whatever The Weather in the modern ambient landscape.

Where the project’s concept only came to fruition after culling tracks and ideas together for its first album, Whatever The Weather II was created with intention. Amidst grainy crystallised drones, James’ voice comes in encrusted with frost on ‘1°C’: “It’s a bit chilly, innit?” A knowing intro to a sequel that gently raises the heat, simmering in prismatic sine waves yet unafraid to interrupt the softness with shots of noise, which somehow still fit right into the air of tranquility and introspection. As we get further into the album, we explore a dewy, moist terrarium of songs, filled with chimes billowing like sunlight through trees, bubblegum popping microbeats, and amorphous ambience swirling in seas of wind.

‘3°C’ begins the thawing process with glassy pads melting all over the rugged irregular stomp and whistling glitchy tears. Much of the album is textured with these staticky pinpricks and field recordings, adding crackling friction to the hypnotically glossy, blurry atmosphere. Suddenly, a vibrating phone takes you out of the heat haze daze, and percussion rattles across the surface in response, forming a maelstrom of sound on tracks like ‘11°C (Intermittent Rain)’ as the everchanging slosh is transmitted through high pitched radio tones.

Whatever The Weather II finds Loraine James in her soundscaping element, slipping between smooth and spiky as she evokes the “emotional temperature” of each track.