Hudson Mohawke – Lantern

Six years separate Ross Birchard's effervescent debut Butter and his thirstily-awaited follow-up Lantern. His 808-obsessed work in the meantime with TNGHT and Kanye might be a brash style increasingly aped by rising trap stars like RL Grime, but his roots aren’t quite as obnoxious; Butter was prismatic, kaleidoscopic, footloose. A bit bonkers, basically.

Eerie baby-voice 'Hudson, Mo!' signature notwithstanding, his attention-deficit eclecticism has evolved into a confidently varied curatorial ear. Solid pop-balladry (Very First Breath, Deepspace) and slower jams (Indian Steps, Resistance, Warriors) collide harmoniously with the itchy, crystalline electronica that typified his debut.

Portrait of Luci recalls FUSE’s tropicalia; Shadows, Scud Books and happy closer Brand New World gleam with candid, Saturday-morning-cartoon energy, all major-key glitter and brass. Birchard is a long-established talent behind the decks, but Lantern – a defiantly slick sophomore LP – proves that being in high demand has in no way diluted his craft. [George Sully]