Bonobo ‘The North Borders’ Ninja Tune, 1st April 2013, £7.99 on iTunes.
Ready to return, Bonobo releases much anticipated fifth studio album ‘The North Borders’, following a three-year break between album ‘Black Sands’ released back in 2010.
A popular one in the Ninja Tune Label family, hailing from Brighton, Bonobo; real name Simon Green, is a British musician, producer and DJ. Previous work resides to a use of a variety of complex basslines and percussions. Known for being experimental with down-tempo electronic music, Bonobo has been at it for a good 15 years now, being considered as one of the greatest at the sound he delivers. Touring with a band, as many producers do nowadays, the live renditions consist of a singer, keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist, string section, electronics, and drummer, in which Green usually plays bass guitar, leading the band.
The true success behind Bonobo is his ability to portray emotion entirely through music, with very little word spoken. The album consists of deeper layers than any album known to Bonobo. Not too dissimilar to ‘Black Sands’, seemingly feeling like a continuation, the featured album showcases a variety of garage and techno beats with a hazy production, allowing perfectly created textures to be unveiled through the warmth of sounds he entices the listeners to.
‘The North Borders’ continues to raise the bar and proves Bonobo’s talent as well as his knack for showcasing new talent featuring on the album, with the likes of Erykah Badu and Grey Raymond. They both provide Bonobo’s sound with distinctive vocals and style. The sound produced is completely organic; nothing sounds too overproduced or overworked, with each track naturally moving on to one another.
Favourites: ‘Emkay’, ‘Cirrus’, ‘Heaven For The Sinner’.
gracecassonmusicscene 