Modal Soul Review

There is a specific feeling this album owns outright: melancholy that is comfortable rather than painful, the mood of a late train home when nothing is wrong. Feather opens with a piano figure and a Cise Starr verse and sets it immediately. Luv(sic) Part 3 is the peak of his long running series with Shing02, six minutes of strings and a rapper working out what love does to language, and it is the one track here where the writing is genuinely as good as the beat.

Reflection Eternal is a masterclass in restraint. The title track hands the microphone to Terry Callier and produces something close to a soul standard. Ordinary Joe closes it on an unexpected lightness. The drums swing rather than click, the samples are chosen for their imperfections, and the sequencing moves like a set rather than a playlist. Whatever the genre became after him, this is where it was actually good, and people put it on constantly.