Rafter - XYZ (2016)

Rafter Roberts is an unpredictable lad. His early albums were patchwork cut-and-paste bedroom pop that overflowed with sound and ideas, not to mention off-kilter hooks that jumped up and down like overexcited puppies. After a while of doing that, Rafter got restless and weird(er). In 2011, he whipped up a blown-out black metal-inspired album (Quiet Storm) and teamed with producer Simon Lord on a quirky lo-fi dance album (Eponymous) under the name Roberts & Lord. After a break, he returned with a straight instrumental reggae album, It's Reggae, in 2014. These stylistic swerves could have led Rafter in almost any direction on 2016's XYZ, but instead of some kind of new age ballet or disco-bossa nova hybrid, the album is a consolidation of his early scattered bedroom pop style. And with some of the soulful grooves of Roberts & Lord, some slightly upgraded kitchen-sink production, a hint of reggae skank here and there, and above all, a tightly focused (for Rafter) batch of songs that have hooks aplenty, XYZ is his best-sounding, most easily accessible effort yet. There's a jaunty, happy feeling that pervades the grooves, with Rafter's sunny vocals mixing well with the wobbly synths and wide array of wacky sounds he throws into the mix. Even though the words aren't always the cheeriest (check "Lonely World" or "When I Die I Wanna Get Some of My Blood on Them" for proof of that), the music is uplifting and almost empowering at times. Rafter doesn't wallow in melancholy; he blasts it away with a rainbow of saxes, oscillating synths, overdriven drums, and chugging guitars. When he does relax a little, like on the lilting "Rafter vs. Mai Mai," he wraps his feels in a warm blanket of keys, backing vocal harmonies, and dub-heavy bass. It's an impressive jump forward for Rafter. He calms down enough to really focus on arrangements, crafts very sharp hooks, and basically lets loose with the classic modern pop album he seemed to have up his sleeve all along.