In the era of brickwall mastering and advertising campaigns with a remit that appears to be simply to shout louder, silence has become a precious commodity. It's a wonderful tonic, then, to be able to almost hear the silence in Cheval Sombre's intoxicating brew of breathy lullabies and twinkling, acoustic laments.

DIS first heard the reclusive, understated New York soloist roughly two years ago; fully-formed even on those rougher recordings. His first single, 'It's a shame', throbbed like the more fragile moments of early Spiritualized or Galaxie 500, and its flip, 'Little Bit of Heaven', similarly dripped sparks in a manner akin to an asteroid on a decaying orbit. That was only five months ago and soon thereafter Trensmat released the narcoleptic 'I Sleep', with Dean & Britta's Britta Phillips collaborating on it's hypnotic and brittle b-side, 'Troubled Mind'.

On 17th November Static Caravan released 'I Found It Not So', Cheval Sombre's third single before an album is released on _Double Feature_ records at the beginning of next year. It comes as a welcome but small surprise to find that Spaceman 3's Sonic Boom features as producer on much of the Cheval Sombre material as their sensibilities make for a wonderful fit: 'I Found It Not So' is laced with languidly efficient, velvety-guitar-lines, whilst 'Where Did Our Love Go' offers a damaged, slightly menacing take on the Supremes' classic, typical of the sparkling, almost weightlessly splendid melancholia drip-fed to date.

Have a listen: http://www.myspace.com/chevalsombre