Bonobo's 'Black Sands': Like suicidal Na'vi nerd Prozac
Bonobo
Black Sands
Tax season. Tea Party season. Jersey Shore’s second season. There’s a lot to freak the fuck out about these days.
UK producer Bonobo’s like, “Chill, motherfucker. I GOT THIS.”
The Ninja Tune all-star returns more assured than ever on his fourth album Black Sands out March 10. Opening track “Kiara Prelude” is on some Elvish wedding ceremony tip so hard, Legolas would cry. Track “Kong” takes a DMT stroll through the jungle, ears full of heartbeat as luminous willows weap. It’s Prozac for all those fools suicidal since they can’t be Na’vi.
So what if you can sell high-end shoes and man-purses to this music? Bonobo is the chill master, four albums in and giving DJ Krush a run for his yen. Black Sands is not all live instruments and samples, either. Andreya Triana handles the requisite soulful date night coos on “Eyesdown” and “Wonder When”. “The Keeper” sound-checks the best of Erykah Badu.
Title track “Black Sands” ends the excursion on a big note – going from a lone acoustic guitar progression, to chamber suite, to full-on cinematic score like Simon Green jacked Peter Jackson’s entire posse.
We all got 99 problems. Black Sands takes care of one. All Black everything this March on Ninja Tune. -David Downs
