RA The Best Albums of 2022

RA编辑W.W.

Ron Trent's WARM project captures it all in the name. As the Chicago house genius has advanced in his career, he's slowly luxuriated into a silky fusion sound that plucks from jazz, Balearic and soft rock in the spirit of carefully considered collaborators, like Texan psych-rock trio Khruangbin or Italian ambient composer Gigi Masin. "Admira," for instance, unfurls alongside loose bongo drums like a satisfying slow yawn after a midday slumber. Dappled sunlight patchworks "Flos Potentia," bound together by strumming bass guitar, and "On My Way Home," an earnest, jazzy sonic panacea for the oft-jaded ennui of modern music. After a long 11 years away from the format, Trent's latest album is a gorgeous evolution to behold.