Zomby

Known almost as well for his mysterious inability to show up at live gigs as for his starkly singular version of bass music, UK producer Zomby is a novel, if unexpected, choice for a talent to jump from the annals of underground electronic culture to the vaunted pantheon that is 4AD. But albums like his much-loved 2008 full-length debut, Where Were U in '92, solidified his reputation for reinventing the outer edges of bass culture into entirely indefinable creatures. Fans of that release shouldn't come looking for a rave redux here; Dedication takes its results to the opposite end of the spectrum, towards a strange but alluring hybrid of toughened, mid-tempo bass balladry. The album's 15 tracks move at their own pace, featuring Zomby's penchant for short compositions that don't really build into anything and interludes blending together well as the album's momentum slowly builds and recedes. Almost certainly, these looping interludes – the shortest track here is 52 seconds, and only one ventures over the four-minute mark – are the basis of his style, but the brilliant ideas evidenced on Dedication almost as often beg the question: is Zomby mining his full potential?