Veering between intriguing and irritating, WHO KILL (4AD/The Label), the sophomore album from Merrill Garbus, better known as tUnE-yArDs, offers more questions than it answers. It certainly is beautifully recorded and never dull, with instruments entering and leaving at will, zipping from side to side, and generally acting in a way that keeps listeners on their toes. However, for all the Animal Collective smarts and DayGlo indie cred, none of the songs really fasten themselves in your mind, and you’re left clutching at a well-executed cluster of playground rhymes and birdcall melodies that show promise, but never fully deliver.
A prime mover on the dance scene for some time, SBTRKT may have tried to keep his identity secret by using African masks and other tools of subterfuge, but it has inevitably emerged he is Aaron Jerome, a former broken beat and nu jazz producer with nearly a decade of releases behind him. There is certainly nothing to be ashamed of on the self-titled SBTRKT (Young Turk
s), which combines sophisticated dancefloor rhythms with sly melodies and unusually sympathetic vocals from the likes of Jessie Ware and Sampha. Substantial dance albums like this are often attempted but rarely pulled off so well.