Walls

Having made a considerable splash with the collaboration , returned to his own path with , a remarkable album that ranks as his best yet. Beginning with the gentle string and vibes beats of -- which in its own melancholy way, combined with the title, suddenly sounds like one of the most humanistic songs yet recorded, passionate in its elegant sorrow -- takes a simultaneously familiar and unsettled path. While the continuing impact of disparate strands of music -- the fallout of and its many imitators, the obsessions of , the stadium-ready melancholy of early and its own horde of followers -- has resulted in a 21st century computer music of crushed sorrow; on transcends the downbeat limitations of the incipient form with astonishing grace. Hearing how what could be a standard filter-house volume build in becomes a fierce trap for a voice barely understandable, or how the post- / woundedly sweet vocal on actually means something working alongside the busily frenetic beats make the listener regard familiar approaches in a sudden new light. Meantime, which appears towards the album's conclusion, might actually be the best song on it. While there are a lot of songs that could be described as soundtracking a nonexistent film, this actually feels like it, strings and a handclap beat creating a pitch-perfect atmosphere to the end of a romantic movie. 's various vocal appearances throughout are nice additions but the highlight is where his perfectly in-the-moment style contrasts the squelching bass and nervous but righteous groove to a T. ~ Ned Raggett