Zach Saginaw
is accustomed to working with other musicians -- he played drums for
School of Seven Bells
and contributed electronics to
Dave Douglas
'
High Risk
, for starters -- but his recorded activity as
Shigeto
has largely been solitary. That changes with
The New Monday
, the producer's first album since 2013's
No Better Time Than Now
. After the
Intermission
EP in 2015,
Saginaw
started a label with his brother, recorded an album with
Danny Brown
associate
ZelooperZ
(as
ZGTO
), and established a weekly DJ night with members of his musical family at a Detroit wine bar. That sense of community carries over to
's third
Ghostly International
full-length, an album with a cast of ten vocalists and instrumentalists in support of
's most diverse bundle of tracks yet. Nothing here has the fidgety, beatific quality of past highlights like "Huron River Drive" and "Detroit, Pt. 1," but the free-spirited mix of styles is inviting in its own way. Even the two tracks featuring waggish wordplay from
-- the gnashing "Barry White" and lurching fever dream "A2D" -- differ from
and aren't straight hip-hop, slathered in acid-house zags, dotted with a clinking crib-mobile melody, and brightened with
's familiar thumb piano. A handful of efficient house tracks bear the inspiration of metropolitan Detroit and Motor City-proper figures like
JTC
,
Theo Parrish
, and
Moodymann
. "Ice Breaker" deals out stern, menacing jakbeat. "Detroit, Pt. 2," one of three tracks featuring
Marcus Elliot
's silvery tenor saxophone, bumps and knocks, while "There's a Vibe Tonight" slinks and slides with
Kaleena Zanders
making like
Chaka Khan
.
ventures into heady, twitching footwork for "Don't Trip," then closes the album with a shadowy showcase for
Elliot
. It's all somehow pulled off without coming across as aesthetically erratic. ~ Andy Kellman