(Velocity/Shock)

Layo Paskin and Matthew ‘Bushwacka!’ Benjamin follow up their excellent 2002 Night Works long-player (the barely adequate containment vessel for the beyond-excellent track “Love Story”) with their third studio work proper – Feels Closer. However this time round things seem a little out of character…

In the four years between outputs the boys have moved away (slightly) from the electronic-house-breakbeat-loops-and-samples (try saying that with a mouthful of bees!) sound for which they are renowned, and dabbled more in the realm of live jazz instrumentation: horns, percussion, strings. And whilst there’s not anything wrong with a bit of real music from real instruments per se – they do tend to dwell a spell within downbeat Groove Armada territory (fitting really that Armada’s Tim Hutton guests on album track “Me And You”). Plus they’ve seemingly succumbed to that most modern of maladies – guest-star-overload-itis – featuring turns from artists as varied as Green Velvet, Brazil’s answer to Robbie Williams – Rogerio Flausino, and Mino Cinelu from jazz-fusion act Weather Report (Howard Moon would be delighted!) The album’s highlight is undoubtedly “Isn’t This A Lovely Day”, featuring divine samples from the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald and Satchmo himself – Louis Armstrong. There’s a nicely familiar bit of bass work from the boys as well: dark, ominous, heavy, broody (as well as on other a few other tracks such as “Hang Tough”). It serves as a timely reminder for mine as to why their previous works were so darn good, and ultimately superior, it all comes down to the tone, mood and shade.

There’s a very different feel on offer here people – it’s lighter, brighter, jet-setting and trendy. There’s afro beats and Latin influences and fully vocalised tracks all over the place. Whilst it’s all solid, interesting and adept, it’s also vaguely unfamiliar terrain for fan’s of the duo’s darker sounding back catalogue. And though artists should never be curbed from progression, growth or freedom of artistic expression, it’s up to the individual to determine whether Layo & Bushwacka! have moved in a direction they favour.