Flabaire - Layers (2020)

Two years ago, we waxed lyrical about Flabaire's last album-length excursion, a delightfully dusty and atmospheric blend of deep house and instrumental hip-hop cuts entitled 'Bandwidth'. Predictably, we're going to enthuse about this belated follow-up too, which sees the Frenchman add further layers of musical complexity - including some deliciously jazzy instrumentation - to his sample-heavy, MPC-driven production template. Dreamy, immersive and more comforting than a king-size duvet, the set's seven tracks include the French producer's takes on futurist ambient techno ('Mot Rose'), jazz-flecked Balearic soundscapes (the ultra-deep 'Layer 4', 'Layer 5' and glistening 'Layer 7'), drowsy downtempo sounds ('Layer 6'), dub techno ('Echo Park') and echo-drenched guitar textures ('We Were Talking About The Space Between Us All'). Inspired.