Logistics - Hologram (2018) [Hi-Res]

Unbelievably, this is the eighth studio album from Matt Gresham, AKA Logistics, in just 12 years - a work rate that'd put many other D&B producers to shame.

Part of the reason for that, of course, is that Gresham isn't one of those producers who feels the need to completely reinvent their sound with every album. Instead, he worked out many years ago what it is he loves doing and is good at, and has been doing that ever since! Liquid funk in the classic Hospital vein is therefore the order of the day pretty much throughout Hologram. That means this means it's an album that will delight his many fans worldwide, even if it's not particularly likely to win him huge swathes of fresh converts.

That's not to say there's no variation from previous long-players, though. The most notable thing about the album is that the beats are just a tad mellower than we've come to expect. Logistics' trademark has always been marrying smooth liquid grooves to a tuffer, more junglistic style of drums, but such is in relatively scarce supply on Hologram, except on a handful of tracks (Chant being one example) - otherwise, pacey but delicate opener Lotus Flower sets the tone for the most of the rest of the album. There are a couple of tracks, such as The Light Without You and Safe In Your Arms, that veer a little too close to pop/stadium territory for this reviewer's liking, but they're more than compensated for by the likes of the jazz-tinged roller Heatwave, with its quirky little keyboard motif that could've come straight off the theme tune to a 1970s US sitcom, or the title track Hologram itself, which features InMost and which has the kind of dark, brooding energy that so much other liquid material can sorely lack.

Hologram is also one of several cuts in the album's mid-section that see Logistics ploughing a slightly deeper furrow: others include the aforementioned Chant and the superb Inemuri, which veers towards the minimal end of the D&B spectrum. Again, this means any misgivings about the album's poppier cuts are soon forgiven.

All told, if you've liked any of Logistics' seven previous albums, you're unlikely to find much to complain about here - and if you've yet to get acquainted, well, eight albums in, it's probably time you did!

Tracklist:
01. Logistics - Lotus Flower
02. Logistics - Heatwave
03. Logistics - Broken Light (feat. Thomas Oliver)
04. Logistics - Been Dreaming (feat. Inmost & Lyra)
05. Logistics - The Light Without You (feat. Salt Ashes)
06. Logistics - Microdot
07. Logistics - Inemuri
08. Logistics - Chant
09. Logistics - Hologram (feat. Inmost)
10. Logistics - Safe in Your Arms (feat. Degs)
11. Logistics - Devotion
12. Logistics - Signs (feat. Changing Faces)
13. Logistics - Hayling (feat. Emer Dineen)
14. Logistics - Picton Blues
15. Logistics - In Your Eyes
16. Logistics - C.Lone