Listening to Bjork's entire back catalog early this year, I met five hours of pop music, experimental sounds, lots of magic. After years of shallow appreciation, immersion provided the best, most proper introduction. This summer I've been giving Smile Down Upon Us a lot of my time. Concentrating on it, (usually absently) taking it with me, fitting it in. Play it in the background and it'll pass over, leave raindrops on the window, an undeniable calm. But once it has you it's too rich to be ignored.

Evoking warmth, a quilt of rustling leaves and dewy feathers that shelter you, the music is created via email between English duo Phelan Sheppard and Japanese singer moomLooo. But it's not loose, no bytes overlap or are lost. Fire encourages moomLooo's voice, inviting the twang of autumn/winter folk guitar--it sounds better as summer calls it quits. As we retreat inside, I choose Smile Down Upon Us.