Bleep

Spatial, No Problem. is a completely unexpected collaboration, even for the artists themselves, but when both Lee “Scratch” Perry and Mouse On Mars are ever inventive and hungry to expand their horizons, the resulting mastercraft of genrefluid productions makes perfect sense. Scratch joined the duo in their Berlin studio for a whirlwind of sessions during three days in late 2019 where anything seemed possible, all parties brimming with energy and eager to explore what they were capable of with this fleeting connection before Perry’s passing in 2021.

‘Rockcurry’ gets straight to the point, forging ahead with a Krautrock-ish groove of bright sparking chords and dazzling strings of synth flashes. Everything is alive in these tracks, psychedelic and lawless as Perry freestyles laconic phrases unfazed over the winding maximalist arrangements. Perry’s playing with language matches MOM’s playing with sound, pairing colourful drum circles with cosmic contorting glitches on ‘Economic Train’, fusing worlds together through a dreamlike monologue on ‘Spatialee’ as the gurgling micro rhythms of electronica meet the close harmonies of avant jazz mixed with reggae horns. In that complex melting pot of styles, Perry shouts a cheeky challenge: “Find me if you can!”

There’s space for everything in this record. Bubbling dub bass, sizzling sax and flute details, chirpy amphibian synth melodies, cyclical grooves and psychedelic dub affected post punk. The closing ‘State Of Emergency’ points to a more classic if leftfield reggae influence, its solemn brass arrangements shivering with squelching drums as Perry laments of “reggae teeth, reggae grief” and “no meat, no fat, no lean” over moody dub bass and dramatically sighing horns.

Lee “Scratch” Perry didn’t want Spatial, No Problem. to be “just another reggae album”, and with Modest Mouse he goes far beyond, but his dub legacy trickles through in all the right places; reggae is the source, after all.