Believe You Me

Experimental electronic producer Roberto Carlos Lange was sifting through the social rubble when he came across ambient folk songstress Julianna Barwick. Fast-forward to 2012, and their collaboration under the Ombre moniker has resulted in the impressive debut album Believe You Me. A Spanish-toned trumpet plays elongated notes alongside acoustic guitar strumming in the opening “Noche Brilla,” as gauzy layers of Barwick’s ghostly coos float over the two instruments. What’s amazing is how these three spare elements create a lush atmosphere. It’s quite a different approach from the more fleshed-out “Weight Those Words,” with a proper rhythm section and Barwick’s gossamer inflections haunting Lange’s Spanish-language performance, sung in a warbled hush à la Devendra Banhart. Lange floats in vestiges of those sonic laboratory experiments from his recordings under Helado Negro in “Vistate.” Sprawling out for five minutes and 20 seconds, the song pulses and undulates like a dreampop epic that’s tangled in overlapped webs of ethereal effects. The standout “Tormentas” exudes a dark beauty.