Kiran Arora

Relative to the searing, noise-driven intensity of recent albums Wormwood Scrubs or Wilderness Years, Virgin Forest marks a distinct turn into far more introspective realms. Though it lacks none of the surgical ear for detail listeners have come to expect from him, Arora this time finds himself explicitly utilising a sound palette of subtle tonality, calm atmospherics and the pronounced influence of computer music in ways only hinted at in past work.

The seven tracks of Virgin Forest form a series of intricately sculpted vignettes—a film-like portrait of cryptic, nocturnal stillness: scenic and evocative, yet seemingly unanchored to any overt emotive or communicative angles. The album's buried gradients and static features contain interconnected details that invite repeat observations. In Virgin Forest's slow burning, delicate patience we find a bold and exciting statement of creative evolution come to fruition.