8/10

WONDERLOST’s latest release 'Distant Present' feels like drifting through an alternate temporal dimension. Recorded amidst the sun-bleached isolation of St. John in the United States, the record is an eleven-track journey that bends expectations, blending moments of tension, reflection, and dreamlike abstraction into a cohesive, uncanny whole.

From the first notes of its dynamic title-track, it’s clear this is a project shaped by decades of exploration. The album flits between instrumental meditations, shadowy rhythm tracks, and pieces that feel like forgotten experiments brought vividly to life. Collaborators including Allen Clapp, Fletcher Kelley, and Broheem on saxophone add unexpected textures, making each track feel like a miniature world unto itself. There’s an undercurrent of melancholic beauty in the arrangements, a sense of stepping into spaces that exist somewhere between memory and imagination.

Tracks like 'Third Like' and 'Bully Man' unfold with patience, encouraging immersion, with layering of soundscapes creating a tension between disorientation and comfort. At times, the album feels dystopian, then suddenly intimate, as if we are granted access to a hidden corner of WONDERLOST’s creative psyche.

With 'Distant Present', WONDERLOST demonstrates that genre boundaries are merely suggestions. The record offers a rare combination of ambition, craft, and wonder. It’s a sonic odyssey where the familiar dissolves and the imagination reigns, proving once again why WONDERLOST remains one of the most inventive voices in contemporary indie music.