The beats skitter and synths roll around and somewhere SBTRKT wants to write a pop song.
I imagine that statement was accurate sometime around February of this year, or possibly earlier. After releasing consistent if not earth-shattering remixes and well-intentioned instrumentals, SBTRKT has taken the mechanics of his singles and debut album and turned them outward. Instead of the heady dubstep(ish) whirl of his previous releases, he has tighten up the production and clamped down on the excess which tended to undermine the impact of his earlier tracks and concentrated on building cohesive “songs” out of his compact, tightly structured instrumental experiments. It doesn’t hurt that he has selected singers whose voices compliment his musical tendencies perfectly. By allowing each singer plenty of space in which to settle in these songs, a natural cadence develops and flows from track to track. From skittering, oddly touching lead single “Wildfire” featuring Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano to the fitting closer “Go Bang”, with its' chiming and undulating synths, SBTRKT never diminishes or compromises on his exacting vision of the perfect “pop” album, though it be fractured and run through about a dozen musical trends. 2011 has come to be the touchstone for the year of purposeful anonymity, and SBTRKT hides behind a mask in order to present the music without artifice or influence, but of course, by doing so, he is inadvertently, or not, placing particular emphasis on that aspect of the music. In the end, whether he goes by SBTRKT or Aaron Jerome, I’ll be waiting for his next attempt at distilling whatever musical by-ways he’s likely to travel in the future.
Tracklisting:
01. Heatwave
02. Hold On
03. Wildfire (listen to the mp3 below)
04. Sanctuary
05. Trials Of The Past
06. Right Thing To Do
07. Something Goes Right
08. Pharaohs
09. Ready Set Loop
10. Never Never
11. Go Bang
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