The wonder of transporting to somewhere serene is ingrained into Tourist’s output. The pseudonym of the UK producer, William Phillips, carries the exhilarating sensations of this fantastical travel through his music. His illustrious reach is boundless, having remixed renowned artists such as CHVRCHES, Deftones, Flume, Caroline Polachek, and many others. Forging beatific soundscapes over a fruitful decade, Phillips’s glossy, mood-based house music has bookended numerous chapters in his life, taking on all sorts of forms.

Phillips’s earlier releases were shrouded in rave, like the skittery breakbeats on 2014’s breakthrough EP Patterns, and the unwinding progressive breaks of 2016’s U, a project with the same passionate jubilance as any modern The Chemical Brothers record. However, drastic life events curtailed the straightforwardness of his work—the tragic passing of a close friend and the birth of his daughter during the coronavirus pandemic entangled Phillips in both grief and joy. Openly seizing this tumult led to 2022’s Inside Out, a tender, poignant display of self-reflection, and a marked increase in mature songwriting.

As Phillips’s life continues to enter this new meditative chapter, so too has his music. The pondering of death and new life has bled into the new Tourist album, Memory Morning, a collection of sensationally-layered songs that utter “keep on moving forward” by priding themselves on repetition. Where Inside Out planted the seeds for contemplation, Memory Morning is blooming from that subsequent comfort, seeking solace in the familiar—the memories of music you love. Phillips consciously draws from a glistening pool of ingenious artists, such as Cocteau Twins, Beach House, and homegrown sound collagists The Avalanches. While each’s knack to engulf the listener in a Wall of Sound isn’t as vivid here, Phillips unleashes a feeling that’s all the same in spades.

Take the opener, ‘Lifted Out’, where sprinkles of cascading piano chimes are underscored by lofty beats that elevate one’s spirit. Already, the listener is guided elsewhere, to a space unshaken by disarray. It sets the stage for ‘A Little Bit Further’, emblematic of reminiscing about loved music from the past by repurposing its fragments. A dusty sample of Mark Fry’s ‘Song For Wilde’ gradually dissipates into effervescent synthesisers, exploding into an energising blast of pure positivity. The unceasing thumping beat pummels the listener, exhorting them to “be okay” as Fry’s folky strings are expertly woven into the glittery catharsis. Phillips continues this euphoric streak on ‘Valentine’ and ‘Siren’, displays of angelic voices and pulsing downtempo, respectively.

The album’s latter half ventures into quieter, introspective territory on the naturalistic ‘Ithaca’. Scaffolded by underwater keyboards, an outpouring of gleaming acid synth lines adorn its entrancing microhouse groove. The aptly-titled ‘Blink’ features voices edited like clicks, fading in and out like vignettes. ‘Second Nature’ is centred on a nostalgic string-and-piano riff, urging the need to “keep pushing on” as its triumphant unending groove engrosses the ears. Then, the titular ‘Memory Morning’ is a gorgeous concoction of Phillips’s influences, with each element keenly patterned like patchwork to form a radiant mosaic. The choppy, warbled percussion and swirly vocals cumulate into a Four Tet-esque chilled dancefloor filler: earnest hope. It is a sublime aural journey that is perhaps Phillips at his zenith.

Beyond the namesake closer, Memory Morning is intended for closer listening. In Phillips’s words, “I want Memory Morning to be a place you go and visit often, and where you find new, little things in it every time you go.” Indeed, every spin reaps new rewards and nuances. The bleak darkness encasing the cover’s curious pastel illustration is deceiving: it merely outlines the window to momentarily escape any tragedy, by melting into sunswept rays of colour—Phillips’s enduringly uplifting songs. As is the case with his newfound compositional maturity, that very excellence is, clearly, non-transitory.

Memory Morning is available to listen to on all major music platforms.