NEW ALBUMS
STONE GIANTS
West Coast Love Stories
NOMARK
5/10
Brazilian electronica veteran gets vocal
Amon Tobin made his name in the late ’90s through a run of inventive downtempo albums for Ninja Tune. In the years since, he’s widened his scope, scoring for film and video games and recording dreamy psychedelic folk under the name Figueroa. Stone Giants debuts a new pseudonym, dedicated to atmospheric electronic music with Tobin’s breathy vocals placed front and centre. It has its moments – see the elegant folktronica of “Best Be Sure”, or the woozy Beach Boys harmonies of “A Year To The Day” – but there’s not quite enough substance here to merit an album, and by the end you get the sense Tobin is shunting around pretty sounds in the hope a song magically comes together.