Paul Smith, aka Reverbaphon, has used material recorded between 2004 and 2006 to create his third album with the Benbecula label. The Glasgow-based multi-instrumentalist/producer’s work fits snugly within the confines of Experimental/Electro-Acoustic/Electronica. A drum machine, samplers, guitar and keyboards make many appearances throughout Here Comes Everyone, an album which is also heavily laden with glitches, peculiar beats, and other interesting sound effects.

Opener “Broad Island” starts off gently with a soft electronic beat and light guitar pickings. The track slowly builds in momentum, adding real drums and a smorgasbord of clicks, pops, tinkerings and hums. Guitar is at the heart of the energetic “Us Mob,” a track containing layers of various beats both digital and acoustic. “Sea Minor Grave” incorporates melodica, backwards guitar, and strings to create a jumbled mess of sounds that works mainly because the compositions are interesting. The meandering melancholic guitar of “The Existential Sheriff” seems out of place at first, but once the track reaches the halfway mark the glitches and digital processing takes hold giving the track a much needed boost. The music box tinkerings of “Mbiraphon” blends easily with long drawn-out guitar pickings, fast paced beats, and melodica.

Here Comes Everyone is mostly an upbeat and fun experience, however Reverbaphon experiments with the mood of the track just as much as he experiments with sound. Sometimes it works, other times the track is saved at the last moment from being only a mass of overlapping sounds. For a work containing a large amount of digital elements, it seems a bit odd to conclude the album with the mellow solo guitar piece “Space Ship Earth.” While the album is not without downsides and inconsistencies, it is still a pleasant listen containing more than a few gems. Fans of Kieran Hebden should definitely check it out.

-Leanne Simpson