When I first listened to Fingers… it felt like having your face right up close to an impressionist painting. Initially the constituent parts seemed as though they didn’t create a coherent whole, or at least a whole that I could recognise. It’s not always immediately obvious that an impressionist painting of a pond is of a pond. The dance tracks on Fingers… are well, not immediately obviously dance tracks.

They come across as unrelated dabs and strokes, as though someone had set up a series of loops and left them on their own. Their relationship are hidden, creating confusion. How does this correlate with the awe-inspiring fluidity of the dancing associated with footwork? But the more time you spend with Fingers… the more things pull into focus. It might take stepping back for a moment but inevitably there will come a moment where you can firmly say to yourself that “yes, this is in fact a pond”.

That moment is in itself incredibly satisfying and allows you to move on and appreciate the tension that pervades the album, each track feels as though it’s moments from collapse. And it’s this fine kinetic balancing that justifies the self-assured nature of Fingers…. If someone with less skill than Boo were to use a loop shouting “motherfuck your favourite DJ” it would come across at best as arrogant and at worst, crass. But it functions here not only as a righteous boast but as a vital part of ‘Finish Line D’jayz’; its qualities completing the track.

A dash of red to really bring out the blue of the pond water, if the dash of red was also a huge unambiguous middle finger aimed at all the other painters.

Daoud Al-Janabi