Tom Vek – Leisure Seizure

Perhaps fed up with spending the last five years as a subject of those 'Whatever happened to…' conversations, Tom Vek returns. Although he spent 2005 surfing the indie guitar/electronic crossover zeitgeist, something got in the way of a follow-up to We Have Sound. But as soon as the drawling, arch vocals and broken jazz beat of opener Hold Your Hand start, we’re left in no doubt who we’re listening to.

Leisure Seizure does nothing to convince us otherwise, but it’s a more thoughtful, esoteric album than his first: check the Carl Craig-like space groove of Close Mic’ed as evidence. Apart from single A Chore, there’s not much that replicates the indie-disco euphoria of C-C or I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes; instead, layers of conspicuous drums build with angular deviations and those cryptic lyrics into a record that rewards careful listening. Even after half a decade out of the limelight, there's no one making music quite like this guy. [Euan Ferguson]