Bleep

Something has stirred in Bonobo towers. After a year free of releases in 2018, Bonobo mastermind Simon Green reintroduced the project earlier on this year with the first volume of the Fabric Presents mix series. That release featured the exclusive tracks ‘Ibrik’ and ‘Flicker’, and a few short months later Green has now dropped his third new tune of the year in the form of ‘Linked’.

‘Linked’ doesn’t diverge too far from the standard Bonobo template. Across the track’s six-minute runtime Green puts pastoral electronics up against a shuffling groove. A gently insistent bassline dovetails with gentle synth tones, little snippets of vocal and a pitter-patter beat that sits on the edge of garage-house. It makes for another fine piece of organic club fare, the kind of thing Bonobo has done so well for so long now - previous catalogue standouts ‘Ibrik’ and ‘Cirrus’ are invoked by ‘Linked’.

The second half of ‘Linked’ is where Green evolves the Bonobo sound. After an evocative ambient breakdown halfway through the track (think Tycho) the opening beat snaps back in with a Roland 303 in tow. Classic acid tones don’t seem like a natural fit for Bonobo on paper, but Green meets the 303 halfway, both bringing out real warmth in the instrument and letting it provide his music with an additional bite.

Bonobo’s return gathers momentum with the pulsing dancefloor cut ‘Linked’.