Waves is a soft-spoken album with a laid-back attitude. It just wants you to get comfy and chill, nod your head to its beats here and there, and maybe get a little introspective. Melorman (aka Antonis Haniotakis) puts forth nine tracks wrapped in soft, cloudy sounds for your casual enjoyment, and while there’s a certain similarity at play as the disc moves along, it’s offset well by the ease and the disc’s overall uplifting feel. As I listen to this over and over, and happily so, it occurs to me that there’s not a lot to say about it–it’s a pleasantly innocuous thing, subtle to the point of being nearly subliminal. I mean, your foot’s tapping and your body is bopping along a bit, so you know you’re into it, but the sounds surrounding you are so misty and cool it’s like they’re coming from somewhere far away and you’re just feeling the residual effects. A nice melody like “Lights,” paired up with a low-and-slow bassline and understated glitch percussion, makes you smile and sends ripples of feel-good through you, but maybe it’s just making you remember something good. “Heights” drops sweet chord breaks that bring echoes of cool 90s IDM to mind–a little bit K&D, a little bit Beanfield–and wraps them through and around a romantic song on sighing keys. Something here cuts straight to my core. Close your eyes and drift with it and see what comes up for you. That’s part of what works for me about Waves; the songs manage to trigger very personal responses courtesy of its strong emotional undercurrent. Plus, it really makes me want to sit by the ocean with a good drink at sunset. And as the disc winds down with the oddly funky closer, “Numbers,” with its electronic voice chanting off random sequences over clap-your-hands percussion, I do believe I’ll order another one, then hit play and glide through these Waves again.

Available from SunSeaSky.