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Debut’s don’t often come quite as strong as this. UK-based Jonathan Smith has come up with a belter here: intelligent, chic chillout that for once lives up to the claim of genre-transcending, enlightening downtempo music. A Drop In The Ocean is intricate and ticklish, with plenty of action going on in the topend and a dubby, liquid groove.

Drink More Tea is a sentiment we definitely agree with here at psyreviews, and from the sound of things, the tea in question is most likely chai and enjoyed with a spliff and a banana. Long Sunny Daze is fucking killer. Ott-meets-lightweight-drum-n’bass with some seriously nice touches and an overall vibe of lazing back in summertime with a spliff and a member of the opposite sex. Or the same sex, depending on what side of the bed you got out of this morning.

The Golden Apple is like a more energetic Entheogenic. Taking the basic structure and form of a psychedelic trance track, it uses a backing of squeaky-clean breaks to keep it baggy and interesting. Metatron’s Sugar Cube is a little more aggressive, a lot of the intricate psychedelia has been lost in favour of Eastern melodies: nice in the way it clashes with the whole Stoned Asia / Pathaan stuff, but it sounds too cluttered.

And The Beat Goes Om is sublime chill – we’re firmly in downtempo-psy territory here, but my gawd is it well-executed. All remaining stops are finally pulled out with Fruit Of Mahoot, a soothing epic that closes the album on a resounding high-note. It’s a little too scattered to be perfect, but nevertheless Slack Baba has produced a winner here. Smart, intelligent, four-dimensional chillout.

7

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