Dew Process/Grand Central

In most press releases or promotional material for movies, books or albums they usually have quotes from reviews praising the work in question for its revolutionary greatness and magnificence. I checked out the Dew Process promotional site for Mark Rae’s debut solo album Rae Road and it had this little comment from BBC Online: “An interesting if not extraordinary album.” Wow. Glowing praise to be sure.

While I probably wouldn’t call it extraordinary either, there are certainly some nice tracks on Rae Road. The album has a wide focus but the best bits are when he explores more melodic and textural musical ideas rather than basing songs around stabbed samples, drum machine beats and generic scratching.

Skio is a beautiful travelling tune that reminds me a little of Mr Scruff with its quirky, sunny demeanor and slightly melancholy strings. The sad tinges become a little more pronounced on the following track Bamburgh Dunes, but in this case an eddying flute sets off the ominous background.

The most gratifying songs are those that feature guest vocalists. Lavish is a poppy velveteen love ballad with some simple drum and piano backing to complement the gorgeous vocals provided by Veba. The final track, Throne, is a slow somber call for the fall of oppression sung by Spikey Tee.

On the rest of the album, some of the tracks fall a little too neatly into genres and unfortunately are not stand outs in their categories. Fold or Flower, again featuring Veba, is funky diva vocal house while Candystripe is an attempt at a ragga tune, featuring Joseph Cotton on vocals. I’d be into his ragga stylings if the production weren’t so damn clean. It’s just a little plastic.

Rae Road is a nice little album, even without Rae’s usual studio buddy Steve Christian. It’s not a dramatic listening experience, but if you want something with a diverse range of down tempo styles with decent production values, then Mark Rae’s LP will serve you well.