Atlantic Oscillations

It often seems Will Holland takes delight in confounding his audience. Just take his last three albums as Quantic: a dub reggae album (1000 Watts), an interpolation of Afro-Colombian culture with electronic beats (Magnetica), and a selection of jazz and soul cuts recorded live with a small ensemble (A New Constellation). His latest finds him taking another detour, this time into deeper club-orientated material, influenced by his relocation to New York, and it is his most cohesive album for some time.

These are tracks tried and tested on the dance floor, yet they still have the same attention to rhythm, melody and counter-melody (revealing Holland's clear knack for songcraft). ‘September Blues’ and the title-track are larger-than-life disco instrumentals, rivalling Chic in their lushness; they live and breath ornate NY disco. Echoes of Africa are felt on the marimba-led ‘La Reflexión’ and the West African guitars of ‘Motivic Retrograde’. Pulsing with bass-heavy rhythms and ornate instrumentation, they feel equally part of a musical fabric that also includes the soul grit of ‘Now or Never’ (featuring a fine Alice Russell vocal) and restless jazz of ‘Orquídea’, which, like much of the album, are leavened by gorgeous strings. New York feels like home for the man from Worcestershire.