Although this is Dani Siciliano's debut album, her vocals will be immediately familiar to anyone who’s had a passing acquaintance with Mathew Herbert's experimental excursions into click house over the last five years.
And, while 'Likes...' demonstrates she is clearly much more than the voice of Herbert's production genius, it equally proves that Siciliano has learnt well while working with the maverick talent.
Her solo style is more introspective, but fans of her earlier vocal appearances will warm immediately to the nudging, interwoven vocal arrangements of 'Same', which could pass easily as an outtake from 'Bodily Functions'.
But there are influences other than Herbert at work here.
'Come As You Are' takes a Red Snapper bass line and adds deconstructed mechanical bossa beats, over which Dani unwraps a whispering, soft shoe shuffle vocal, which she follows with the click dancehall house of 'Walk The Line'.
On both of these she is joined by talented East London Sweatshop founder Gabriel Olegavich – the garage producer behind Medicine and a founder member of Spektrum.
'One String', an experimental interlude, leads into a beautifully intimate duet with O Mugison on 'All The Above', while 'Extra Ordinary' rides a chugging locomotive blues riff.
'Likes...' is an assured and confident debut and Siciliano's arrangements are minimal, elegant and spacious, but loaded with a subtle complexity. It’s all terribly likeable.
