Albums
May: 18 albums you need to hear this month
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Calibre 'The Deep' (Signature Recordings)
The relentlessly prolific Dominick Martin follows up downtempo masterpiece ‘Grow’ with his most important d’n’b record in over a decade. This is the LP that knits together the sonic strains of his previously separate downtempo material and his signature liquid-funk arias: a delicious hinterland of ghosting electronica, Thom Yorke-esque psych-blues vocal tracks and monogrammed 170bpm snare textures. In particular, it’s his vocals that have hit new heights: he filters his own falsetto into sublime angelic shapes on ‘No One Gets You’, and nails a murmurming Yorke-like croon on trilling bluesy shuffler ‘Mr Natural’. Card-carrying Calibre fans will still slurp greedily at the traditional sonic watermarks – glacial piano arpeggios on ‘Complain’; the jungle-flecked briskness of ‘Echoes’ – but they’ll also float away on the lucid brilliance of the untied electronic immersions. With ‘The Deep’, Calibre seems to have finally unlocked all the secrets at once. Lord help us!
9/10
