(Mixture/Universal)

Hedonist, Martin Solveig’s second album and follow up to 2002’s Sur la terre (On Earth), continues down the soulful vocal R&B house road. It’s the sort of music that gives house music a bad name amongst electronic music connoisseurs. As irritatingly upbeat it is, only a few tracks in, you may find yourself singing along with and shaking you booty to the infectious bass-lines and vocal stylings. There’s no doubt that Solveig is a talented producer, proving his ability to create a certain warm musicality, funkiness and soulfulness to his music.

The opening track, and single Everybody (performed by Lee Fields) has a soulful funk rock flavour and will heighten Solveig’s crossover appeal, and it’s clear that Solveig is trying to appeal to a wide audience with his music, and Jay Sebag’s singing on Something Better, If you Tell Me More, Rejection and Don’t Waste Another Day, serves falsetto that would wet the pants of Michael Jackson and Justin Timerlake.

The underlying percussive beats in tracks like Something Better show Solveig harking back to his early African musical influences which were showcased on works such as Heart Of Africa and the Africanism project with DJ Gregory and Bob Sinclar. With a variety of different session musicians, sweet funky guitar licks and tasty bass permeate throughout. Tracks like the disco ditty Jealousy with Lee Fields, sound like they’re pulled out of the era of Grace Jones; similarly the minimal broken beat Requiem Pour Un Con performed by Martin Solveig.

Highlights are certainly the single Everybody, the harmonious shiny Dry, featuring Stephy Haik and Solveig on vocals, the soulful Something About You featuring Michael Robinson, Rejection and Black Voices featuring Stephy Haik and the BMK afro school, but it does tend to feel a bit samey by the end.