Who was checking for this? We've all been to a Washed Out show at some point, in the front row tripping over ourselves to show that no, we were feeling it all around-est. However, I didn't expect the dude to age out of that with us - something about chillwave's unyielding summer iconography always made me think that the artists themselves were more in exile than on vacation. Sure, the timing of Mister Mellow's June release date and subsequent summer tour is far from coincidental, but the album finds Ernest Greene far from stagnant. It's a Stones Throw joint in name and nature, incorporating the label's trademark scatterbrained sampling and looseness with song lengths and structures. That itself isn't overly novel ground, but it's still nice to see that our boy Ernie has made it off the island.

Highlights: Time Off, Floating By, Burn Out Blues