While probably best known for his work co-writing and producing Alice Russell’s album ‘My Favourite Letters’, this is TM Juke’s (real name Alex Cowan) second solo album. Having produced an album’s worth of new material by early 2006, Cowan ditched the lot and emerged a mere 12 weeks later with this solid and varied follow-up to his 2003 LP Maps From the Wilderness.

As with much of the material that comes from English label TruThoughts, the music that Cowan produces is not easily categorised. Elements of electronica, soul, jazz and broken beats are evident, and combine to form a catchy and individual sound. Cowan has made use of a number of guest female vocalists including Kinny, Naim and, of course, Alice Russell. The excellent ‘Damn’ showcases the vocal talents of Kinny (of Kinny and Horne), with its simple synthesized melody and signature catchy vocal hook. The catchiness of the vocal hook is no less evident in the more soulful ‘Skin’ featuring Naim, nor the jazzier ‘So Good’ (featuring Alice Russell) – “smooth like butter” is right!

Cowan’s instrumental work is equally impressive. The broken beat/nu-jazz of ‘Bees on Mars’ is just sublime. ‘Lady Garden’ is a smooth northern soul style jam, while ‘Grounded in Fargo’ is a meandering, slightly brooding piece of downbeat electronica. The album is rounded out by the charming and whimsical (both the name and the track) ‘Pencils for Dolphins’. Cowan’s use of weird synthesizer sounds makes a kaleidoscopic and mesmerising track.

TM Juke is a talented and skilful musician who produces intelligent music. If you like the work of Quantic or Alice Russell, this album will definitely meet with your approval.