Diagrams - Chromatics (2015)

When songwriter and producer Sam Genders last donned his Diagrams hat, captive listeners found themselves truly stunned by the Streatham Hill artists imaginative and inventive arrangements that made up 2012's debut album Black Light. Having now upped sticks from his London lodgings and settled in Sheffield with a new lease of life and wife, fresh pastures and friendships are what form the heart of Diagrams brand new album Chromatics. Relationships are a constant thread. In all their frustrating, exciting, mundane, beautiful, wonderful, sexy, scary glory, reveals Genders of the albums themes. Whilst Black Light fizzed with electronic effects, synth bass, programmed beats and low-key funk grooves that brought about comparisons to the leftfield pop of Arthur Russell, Metronomy, Steve Mason and Hot Chip, it's without doubt that Genders next offering falls closer to home comforts and marks the next step in Genders renaissance. Take lead track Phantom Power; it's the track which truly sums up what it's like to find yourself forever reassessing. It's about feeling like you're losing a grip on your sanity at one moment, then feeling inspired and up for anything the next. Or frustration with yourself yet believing that it's possible to sort yourself out, explains Genders.