Even by the high standards of atmosphere-obsessed leftfield heads, this 12" from new producer Wife is impressively atmospheric. Built around clicking rhythms and barely audible vocals, with all manner of drunken chords and stoned effects laden atop, it's presented as two sides of continuous music. While that evokes memories of rather too indulgent ambient releases of the past, there's little pretentious or self-serving about Stoic. There are moments of genuine beauty, and a poignancy - particularly to the semi-organic vocal cut "Circles" - that's hard to ignore. Even "Shards", the release's most ambient moment, is a thing of untold beauty.