Subjective (featuring Goldie), Act 1: Music For Inanimate Objects - album review

The Wolverhampton-bred DJ has continually broadened his horizons through his releases over the years. And this latest guise, forming one half of creative duo Subjective with producer and engineer James Davidson, is no different.

Easing through its life and providing the kind of stripped back relaxing vibes synonymous with everybody's favourite lazy day, this album is as smooth as the finest coffee supped while watching trashy TV.

Goldie and Davidson are no strangers. Working together on the former's 2017 solo release The Journey Man, that relationship spawned this little goldmine of material full of meandering breezes and hushed beats.

From the moment opener Midnight Monsoon rises into audible existence we know we're not going anywhere in a hurry. The punchy undercurrent helps give the soaring ambience a direction, which is left to do its own talking and not be hurried along to any kind of final destination.

This is continued in Temple, a track that ramps up a little in volume towards the middle section like a fevered religious zealot reaching the apex of their sermon. But then it retreats again into calm and tranquilly, bringing any adrenaline instilled in its listener back down to a quiet outwards breath.

There are more vibrant numbers. The electronic feel to Inkolelo has more of a beating heart to it - like Goldie's drum'n'bass routes. The tribal connotations of the occasional shouted vocal throughout takes you an a journey to warmer climes.

The instrumentals are the finest tracks on the album. Long-time Goldie collaborators like Natalie Duncan and Tyler Lee Daly pop up throughout on tracks to provide the voice work. But these tracks actually fail to deliver the same total dominance of the senses like the solely musical sections.

That's not to say they are bad tracks though, just not quite as gripping. In fact, Duncan's sweet vocal work on closing piano track Find Your Light - Beauty is heart-wrenching and impressive. The song treads a fine line between powerful belter and those soft, Sunday feels - and manages to follow it to a tee throughout.

The title clearly hints at more to come from the duo. And we await that gladly.

Rating: 7/10