James Blake aside, Nicolas Jaar is 2011’s poster-boy for all things new, exciting yet innovatively restrained in dance music. Despite coming from entirely different places, globally and musically, the young techno-kind’s approach to texture and palette draws many parallels with Blake’s soulful experimentalism.
Snatches of piano, vocal and other live instrumentation echo around impressionistic house beats, threatening to but never quite forming into full-blown pop songs. Rather than ramping up the BPMs, Jaar is a master of subtlety, relying on good ideas and fantastic production to maximise his sound.
8/10
Words by Charlie Frame