Reuben J Falle - Blue

Brighton UK-based musician Reuben J Falle has just dropped his new EP, Blue, following up his debut, State of Glow, and there's a good amount of genre-hopping music packed into the four-track set. Sometimes the combinations are brilliant, and occasionally they're a bit bland, but overall he's put together a solid release.

The lead song 'Nancy' is a slow-burner, starting with a tenuous synth pad and sparse bass before throwing in an incongruous jungle beat. There's definitely a sense of striving for something big here, but the pieces don't quite fall into place, and while it's serviceable enough, the song doesn't do anything spectacular. 'Animal' changes course dramatically, bringing in bigger beats and a huge, pulsing bassline. There's a serious Prodigy vibe to the track as it rambles along wildly, as well as a nod to Amon Tobin and his penchant for relentless sonic foreplay while steadfastly refusing to consummate his songs.

But the third track is where Falle blows it out of the water as he switches styles again. 'Biological Blue' is an utterly transcendent piece of music, one of the loveliest things I've heard this year. There's a fine line to walk in electronic music between being dull and trying to do too much, especially in the ambient space, but this tune threads the needle perfectly. It captives immediately, sounding like a song that's coming from your own soul rather than an external experience, so intimately does it effect. Slow, muted beats and melody draw you forward, as vocal breezes blow through and a delicate melange of spoken word and natural sound effects fold into the mix. It's absolutely the highlight of the set.

Closing track 'Veins' is driven by ultra-heavy bass, with diaphanous synth pads floating overhead and drowsy drums marching below. It's something of a spoken-word piece, with a long, amusingly out-of-date anti-drug propaganda rant packed into it. The back half of the eight-minute track lacks the vocals, such as they are, and I think it benefits overall, as it becomes more meditative and relaxing without the distraction.

There's a little something for everyone in terms of electronic music, with a little ambient, a little jungle, some nods to 90s-style psychedelic trance, and everything in between. This isn't going to light the world on fire, but it's not bad, and the essentially perfect song 'Biological Blue' alone makes the EP worth checking out.