Set adrift on memory bliss with the soft-spoken prince of chillwave, Ernest Greene, who let’s be honest, took his time. Fully two years since the summer of the chill, and really, if you think back on that late (and probably not lamented) period, is there any one song more emblematic of the “genre” than “Feel It All Around” – that hypnotizing swirler of a single that introduced the world to Washed Out? But c’mon, for a while it was beginning to look like that single and the EP from which it came were all were going to hear from the talented synth revivalist from Perry, Georgia.  I mean, Life of Leisure, sure, but…

Maybe it’s a southern thing, not rushing out a release to jump on the buzz, and that’s cool. Once Ernest Greene did get serious about working on Within and Without, he got in touch with a fellow southerner, Atlanta producer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley). Of working with Allen, Greene told Time Out New York’s Corban Goble, “He totally got where I was coming from….I trusted his taste in the moment when a decision had to be made.” The taste they were in sync on clearly holds a lot of affection for the sounds of two decades ago, the era of the afore-referenced P.M. Dawn. And yet, only parts of Within and Without are quite as blissed out in that sun-kissed Balearic way as Leisure was: certainly the lovely opener “Eyes Be Closed” would fit that bill, as would the relaxed, easy stutter step of “Amor Fati”, and the dreamy, sample flecked “Believe”. On the other hand, “Echoes” is a more beat-driven affair, “Far Away” is distant and druggy with glock pings, and the title track offers a quiet, subtle ebb and flow.

For the most part the passage of two years doesn’t seem to have dampened the enthusiasm for Washed Among critics. At the moment Metacritic’s got Within and Without with a respectable 66, ranging from SPIN’s 9 to Pitchfork’s BNM 8.3 and Under the Radar’s 8, down to 5’s from the NME and BBC and a just plain churlish 3 from Alternative Press. So where does your score stack up? Listen to it, rate it and tell us your thoughts on Within and Without from Washed Out.