For much of the 2010s, British musician Will Archer made dusky, candle-lit music under the somewhat misleading name Slime. His curious, unassuming grooves recalled the 1990s trip-hop/downtempo aesthetic more than anything else being produced at the time, but with slightly more abstract beats and odder arrangements. Since discontinuing the Slime moniker and going by Wilma Archer in 2017, he's issued a bubbling pop single with Amber Mark, released an album of lush, introspective hip-hop with Odd Future/The Jet Age of Tomorrow ...
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For much of the 2010s, British musician Will Archer made dusky, candle-lit music under the somewhat misleading name Slime. His curious, unassuming grooves recalled the 1990s trip-hop/downtempo aesthetic more than anything else being produced at the time, but with slightly more abstract beats and odder arrangements. Since discontinuing the Slime moniker and going by Wilma Archer in 2017, he's issued a bubbling pop single with Amber Mark, released an album of lush, introspective hip-hop with Odd Future/The Jet Age of Tomorrow's Pyramid Vritra, and produced multiple tracks on the acclaimed 2019 debut albums by Sudan Archives and Nilüfer Yanya. A Western Circular is his long-in-the-making first full-length as Wilma Archer, and it's far more organic and introspective than his previous work. Shining a greater spotlight on his skills as a composer and arranger, the album is a mixture of orchestral jazz with subtle electronic touches, and a few ventures into R&B and rap. "Scarecrow," previously issued as a single that provided a taster for Archer's drastic shift in direction, is a flowing mini-suite with a softly gliding rhythm, tasteful electric guitar lead, shimmering organ, and a slightly knotty web of horns. MF DOOM, sounding a bit weathered and unmasked, does his thing over the metronome-like tick and lightly ebullient, tossing-and-turning strings of "Last Sniff." More dramatic and stirring is the sinister tango of "Killing Crab," filled with sharp, heavy strings that boldly swoop and sway. Once again, he teams up with the always stunning Sudan Archives on "Cheater," an intriguing labyrinth of violins, electronic squiggles, and rousing horns. Future Islands crooner Samuel T. Herring pops up twice, first on the distraught lament "The Boon," then duetting with Laura Groves on the downtrodden but reassuring soft rock ballad "Decades." Even without lead vocals, song titles like "Cures & Wounds" and "Ugly Feelings (Again)" point to levels of deep personal expression previously unreached in Archer's music. Easily his richest, most complex music to date, A Western Circular is where Archer reaches the sound he's been striving towards. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi
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