The filmic quality of Hefner's (no, not that Hefner!) sound is unsurpassed, the now classic 'Evening With Hefner' being the perfect example and still the benchmark by which his achievements have to be judged. An album's worth of material, of course, could not be sustained simply by the beautiful intricacies of his soundtrack programming alone. That's where the vocals of Bristol-based singer/songwriter Josee come in, providing the soulful foil to all those perfectly pitched beats.
Like fellow leftfield bright star, Modaji, Hefner has turned the tide of the downbeat scene away from the dangerous jazz-noodlings of the Jazzanova wanabees towards a soul aesthetic. Those in thrall to his marvellously lazy remixes of 4 Hero, Omar Faruk Tekbilek and others will not, however, be disappointed. The course taken on 'Residue' develops the scattered percussive mosaics of these tracks and allows the sound to drift effortlessly in and out of tighter song structures.
The influence of Photek is obvious on 'An Evening With Hefner' as the beats shift around the speakers, gliding, sinking and rising again but never anything less than beautifully precise. 'Dive Into You' combines Josee's vocals and Hefner's fidgeting rhythms to create what ought to be a hit single. 'Chocolate Beauty' shoulders up to the challenge set by 'An Evening With Hefner' and looks pretty confident and 'Pumpkin Rum' pushes the structure to the next level with live instrumentation layered on top of North African percussion and touches of Brazilian flare.
If this is the sound of soul in the year 2000 - and others are waiting in the wings with more of the same - then the genre could be in for a renaissance the like of which it hasn't seen in the UK since the reign of Loose Ends and Soul II Soul.
