Only Child has proved himself one of the brightest jewels in Grand Central's coruscating crown over the last few years.
In terms of bringing us full-bodied tunes that betray a healthy fixation with black music styles, his track record has been virtually faultless.
His second album can be seen as an extension, albeit a more well rounded and ambitious one, of his excellent debut 'Satellites and Constellations'. Like its predecessor, 'Solitaire' features oodles of warm, expressive soul, natty hip hop and burning funk, taking in an array of genres and styles and threading them together with strong vocal performances including songs and raps.
Opening track 'U Bring Me Vibes' - a deep, throbbing house tune featuring Amp Fiddler - gets proceedings off to a swish, fluid start and presents an accurate picture of what's to come - i.e. quality production and confident songwriting.
Much of the material here is immediately infectious and quite memorable by dance music's inherently fickle standards. 'Addicted' (featuring Veba), for example, features a gorgeously uplifting soul chorus that stateside r & b singers would die for.
'Show Me Love', meanwhile, showcases the emotive voice of Nike over a kickin' little hip hop/soul nugget. 'Memories' (featuring rapper Kriminul) carries a contagious piano riff reminiscent of Nelly's 'It's Getting Hot In Here' though with a more subdued, slow burning vibe.
There are club bumpers here too - the tech-Latino 'Loves Reprise' and 'Fall Down', a feel-good stomper complete with a heady performance by veteran house diva Kathy Brown are two - which balance out the slower head nods such as the slick bump 'Find A Way' (all tightly crunched snares and thin synths that gracefully carry the seductive voice of Amp Fiddler) and classy denouement 'The Only Child', a lazy, dragging beat that plods under cool melodics and slowly builds into a modern soul & strings set.
In short, a few fillers, but mostly killers
