Brighton, UK-based downbeat producer Nathaniel Pearn is certainly a prolific guy – in addition to releasing his debut solo album as Natural Self ‘Let Peace Be The Ruler’ through Breakin’ Bread two years ago in 2006, he also found time during that same year to release his ‘Gravity’ album alongside Nostalgia 77’s Ben Lambdin as The Broken Keys, an ongoing collaboration that continues to this day. Two years on, this follow-up ‘The Art Of Vibration’ sees Pearn returning to Tru Thoughts, the home of his early singles, and in many senses picks up directly from where that preceding Natural Self longplayer left off. The opening intro certainly vividly sets the scene for what lays ahead, thick, clattering funk-centred hiphop drum loops echoing out from a massed wall of brass samples that suggests one of DJ Shadow’s soundscapes, before ‘Welcome To The Ascension’ sees vaguely bluegrass-indebted fiddle arrangements slotting in nimbly amongst the angular sampled breaks and delayed-out crash cymbals, the traces of underlying Americana hinting perhaps more towards RJD2’s dusty-sounding productions.
‘The Rising’ meanwhile introduces one of two vocal guest-anchored moments here, with UK urban soul singer Andreya Triana contributing her smooth India Arie-esque vocal delivery to a fluid backbone of vaguely junglist breakbeats and sub-bass, while Pearn drops in his own subtle backing harmonies. By contrast, the Brazilian batucada-fuelled ‘Alright Turn It Up Now’ sees the pace being kicked up a few notches, as clattering percussion fills and liquid-sounding funk guitar riffs battle for space with synth stabs and block-party breakdowns, before ‘Breathe Deep’ drops things effortlessly back into head-nod hiphop territory, as MC Abdominal drapes his lyrical flow around a backdrop of lazy-sounding double-bass runs and hollow-sounding drum breaks, Pearn’s own earthy backing harmonies adding just the right element of grit to the weary-sounding beats. In this case, Pearn’s clearly focussed upon honing his established approach rather than ripping up the rulebook, and while much of this is familiar ground, fans of Tru Thoughts should greet his return to that label with open arms.
