Malachai – Return to the Ugly Side

Malachai’s second long player bills itself as “cut up” of hip-hop and psychedelic pop with a “Bristolian twist”, which if nothing else whets the appetite for something a little different. And the orchestration of opening number Monsters doesn’t disappoint; strings saw like the scary bit in Jaws, the tune hovers in splendid suspense and then a nice fat drum kit kicks in.

The rest of the record lives up to this early promise to entertain; song structures and sounds alternate and mix continually, keeping you on your toes; one minute a bit of drugged out sixties organ, then big, thunderous beats. At its best, on tunes like Monster (without an s this time) and The Don’t Just, there’s an alluring dark cinematic quality. But at its worst, where the experimentation seems only for its own sake, and the vocals seem lifeless and run of the mill, the variety is a less convincing trick. [PJ Meiklem]