Bleep

New Zealand-born, London-based songwriter Jordan Rakei drops his debut LP on Ninja Tune. Rakei knows his way around a tune and has turned in 11 well-crafted bits of pop here. He stretches the term ‘neo-soul’ to take in everything from jazz-flecked jams like ‘Goodbyes’ to the James Blake-y ‘May’. We even get a sort of D’Angelo-goes-Crosby-Stills-and-Nash thing happening on ‘Lucid’. It helps that he has been blessed with a lovely tenor, capable of aping both Jeff Buckley and Gregory Porter within the space of a bar. Unlikely to be the last you hear of him, so grab a copy in order to familiarise yourself with these songs in good time for future festival headline slots.