CITY SLANG
Grammynominated Dan Snaith has come a long way since his early Manitoba releases, and little less since Swim raised his profile a decade ago. Most obviously, Suddenly starts and ends in tranquillity: Sister and Cloud Song are both lovely, hushed electronic ballads, the latter’s pulse raised just a notch, while on New Jade Snaith’s voice is as soothing as his syndrums are precise. You And I, meanwhile, switches between classic Hall & Oates AOR and contemporary digital skulduggery, and there’s more of the latter within the muted funk of Lime and in Sunny’s Time, its vocals cut and pasted, its pianos slipping in and out of tune like cassette wow and flutter. Suddenly’s highlight, though, is Home, which, like Lemon Jelly rewiring Moby’s Play, samples Gloria Barnes to glorious yet poignant effect.