At the risk of sounding like a third- rate amateur comic, I ask you: what's the deal with trip-hop? It seemed to disappear for a while after Portishead's last release. I thought it was long gone. I really did. Then Siouxie Sioux made a very mild, unwelcome and largely unnoticed comeback with the Creatures release Anima Animus. And I think Pitchfork has covered more awful trip-hop since then than we have in our entire three and a half years online. So, it's nice to finally hear a record in the genre that's actually worth listening to.

Blush, the American debut from the English outfit Bows, is an incredibly orchestral affair, focused on laying down inventive, mellow beats, lush, orchestral atmospherics and gorgeous vocals. As with all good trip-hop, Bows' sound is unusally warm, utilizing rich, organic production techniques, bass- heavy kickdrums, melodic, ambient drones, and dense, full string sections.

A chap by the name of Luke Sutherland is the summoner of the Bows beast. On Blush, he handles the majority of madness-- guitars (the few you hear), violins, the occasional saxophone, and lead vocals on a couple of tracks-- but also enlists a few friends to contribute their pieces. Sutherland's most frequent collaborator, angelic vocalist Ruth Emond, makes three appearances on lead vocals, and three others on background vocals. And though she's not officially a part of the group, she's one reason this record succeeds on so many levels.

Emond's soft, Laetitia Sadier-ish soprano complements the wall of beauty backing her up so perfectly that it's almost surreal. On "King Deluxe," she croons, "Don't believe the hype/ That you're everything I hoped for," over one of the most spacious orchestras this side of Bjork's "Isobel." Her appearance on "Speed Marina," which employs a simple harp sample that provides a mundane, vaguely Eastern mysticism, is chillingly intimate. The track, which alternates between a sparse, moody calmness and a chopped up and slowed down hip-hop drum loop, is a dark breakup song with succinct but effective lyrics.

Sutherland's vocals, on the other hand, are slightly more hit- or- miss. On the album's title track, an otherwise melodic and ambient masterpiece, Sutherland's lyrics are simply too damn cheesy to enjoy. But on the almost 8- minute- long "Girls Lips Glitter," his British- accented whisper is a perfect match for Emond's ghostly background harmonies. (It should also be noted that "Girls Lips Glitter" is the first successful fusion of ambient trip-hop and full-on drum-n-bass in history.)

The only problem with Blush is that, if you've just got it on as background music, it can be a bit dull. That's largely because its mood rarely changes-- it's better suited for hot summer nights spent without electricity in Chicago (something everyone in the city should be used to at this point-- those filthy Com Ed bastards!) or on a late night car trip through midwestern forests.

In short, Blush combines the trip-hop elements of Portishead's Dummy, the dream- like ambience of Brian Eno's Music for Films, and the giant tsunami of sound produced by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields on their 1990 classic, Loveless. If that's not an avid endorsement, I don't know what is.

-Ryan Schreiber