‘Kneeling on the pavement, Years can run around us while we sink or swim, A nervous declaration, A flower for the ages, Waiting to be picked’ (Glass Bells)

Never Paradise is the debut album from Philadelphia’s Annie Achron.  Calling upon the base elements of early 1980s’ dark wave, she realises a deft melding of warmly pulsating synths, crisply looping percussion, and ethereal vocals.

This is not an album of grand statements and attention seeking flamboyance.  Rather it is propelled by a clear sense of space and gentle, subtle shifts in tone.  The stark palette elicits a strangely comforting reverie, intriguingly one that is decidedly more human than electronic in texture.  It bewitchingly swirls around you like a delicate mist, luring you ever more deeply into its embrace, both playful yet fundamentally austere.

The enigmatically intoned vocals lead roughly half the tracks, with the jauntily angular title track and the haunting chants of the darkly throbbing O. Magnus proving particular highlights.  Yet, the instrumental tracks inspire equally rich interest, not least D’en Robador (Of A Thief) and Out Of The Myst, which are both enticingly primed by sinuous swells of electronic piano.  Never Paradise proves a thoroughly evocative journey.