Sharp Time sounds exactly like its cover art looks. No joke.

Euglossine has crafted a microcosm of delicate, razor-edged sound pieces, set in motion like a lilliputian hologram of the entire solar system. It’s a revolving cast of rigid, fluid, and filigreed elements set into motion for as long as it can last. Each sharply rendered and discretely placed piece of this album hangs in balance over a fading gravity field, collapsing in playful, jazzy chaos as the album moves on, growing loose and airy as it unwinds.

Despite its half hour length, the album covers a lot of weird territory, the bulk of which is established during second track Phenomenological Manifold, a fourteen minute juggernaut mining crystalline sophisto-pop, Vangelis synth anthems, and a bubbly take on kosmiche dream logic.

The fact that I’m loving this texturally alien, genre-agnostic sound is unsurprising, despite having never heard of Euglossine, aka Florida musician Tristan Whitehill, before discovering this album randomly on Twitter. What caught my eye, beyond the stunning visual artwork, was the name behind it. Orange Milk is one of a handful of modern record labels consistently dropping high quality, adventurous, experimental yet approachable music, month after month. Seeing their logo on an album cover is like recognizing a seal of approval; Orange Milk artists skip to the top of my to-listen pile more often than not.

Sharp Time is one of the brightest low-key revelations in 2017, a compact jewel box of otherworldly aesthetics arranged for maximum impact and charm.  Orange Milk Records sells it on vinyl and digital through their Bandcamp page.