“I got a baseball bat, never hit a homerun” croons Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig over Wonder Where We Land’s lead single ‘NEW DORP, NEW YORK’. As a metaphor, this couldn’t be more fitting for the follow up to the outstanding debut that Aaron Jerome, better known as SBTRKT, slipped into the mainstream. Jerome bears a weapon much more potent than a baseball bat: an arsenal of talented guests who, in theory, should be putting Wonder Where We Land at the front of the queue for the Mercury Prize.

Unfortunately, that never quite proves the case, and instead SBTRKT has delivered an album divided by homeruns and strike-outs. Raury’s fast paced wit is rife in the murky trap-tinged city dweller ‘Higher’, which is instantly bought down by the unimaginative church bell interlude of ‘Day 5’. Similarly Sampha lays down his trademark smoother-than-cheese-fondue vocals on glitchy ‘Temporary View’, only to instantly be marred by the longest 3-minute pop song you can ever endure on the monotonous ‘NEW DORP, NEW YORK’, a track so minimal it crosses dangerously into lacking territory. Jessie Ware lends her delicate vocals to album highlight ‘Problem (Solved)’, a track so endearingly romantic and sleek you’d be excused for stripping down naked and jumping on a chaise lounge. The house piano spooned over ‘Everybody Knows’ and the arpeggio laden ‘Lantern’ are the only odes to the self titled debut album, and even those feel like a solemn salute as Jerome turns his back and heads towards the big city sounds.

Wonder Where We Land is so frustratingly diverse it ultimately ends up incoherent. Although there are some exceptional moments that could rival those that made SBTRKT so noteworthy, the tumultuous track-listing will painfully land album attempt number two straight in the bargain buckets.

Dom Edge

photo: static.guim.com