by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Jordan Russell-Hall, aka Jordan Stanley, is described in his publicity material as a musical magpie, a sampler pilfering material from Charli XCX, Mr Mitch, Ariana Grande and Jimmy Edgar. To these carefully chosen snippets he adds richly coloured synths and busy rhythms that have garnered stylistic comparisons with the likes of Hudson Mohawke and Rustie.

What’s the music like?

Often thrilling, especially when the synths are involved. Stanley gets big blocks of harmony on his side, using them in scattergun fashion to blaze a trail through the busy percussion.

Sometimes the music can move quickly, as though skating across a dancefloor, but he also knows when to pull it back and pan out for wider thoughts. This happens very effectively on Fog, which hovers on a held chord with vibrato before cutting loose, and Impossible, which starts thoughtfully before chopping up its source material.

Pure Morning has a glitchy outlook, while Fascination works well with the tension it creates through rapid piano fire and a relatively slow beat. Quicksand is a thrill that harks back to early rave in its massive parallel chords, Overt is harder hitting, but then the title track goes for broke, a massive production enveloping the listener in huge, floes of icy sound.

Does it all work?

It does – and Stanley works at speed, meaning his ideas never outstay their welcome. Indeed the whole album, with nine tracks, is wrapped up in less than half an hour.

Is it recommended?

It is – a dazzling and colourful set of synthesizer grooves, cutting their way through the noise.

Listen

Buy