Light is a very apt title for Matthew Paul Miller’s upcoming studio album. Better known to you and I under the Matisyahu pseudonym, and for the subsequent top 40 'King Without A Crown' single, he has managed to craft an album that feels like it’s bursting with rays of the stuff. With a rock solid backbone of pleasing drum loops and rhythmic variations thereupon, there’s room to play around here. And happily, this is something he has clearly recognised.Building using the same principles as with the aforementioned rhythm section creates a tertiary, interwoven feel. One sample starts, runs into the next and stops, or might appear halfway through a section, but it’s all very precisely put together and doesn’t feel out of step. You’ve got guitars going off or repeatedly hammering a melody out. Descending piano lines. Sitars. Appropriately, plenty of the artists Jewish heritage resides on the opening track, 'Smash Lies', solidly enveloped by booming synths and bass lines.The final peice of the puzzle are the vocals, and even these lead a merry dance with rapid fire backing vocals trading off against the leads. All of which are delivered with an assured reggae inflection. Think of it all as a big bassy Jewish reggae trifle, complete with beatz, guitar loops and EQ. On that subject everything is excellently mixed and realised, with roomy, booming real drum lines, the snares and bass hits reverberating all over the shop on 'So Hi, So Lo'. And on that subject, there are some cracking vocal lines and choruses to get to grips with.The aforesaid is a great example of this, with the repetition of a simple phrase married to a quirky chord arrangement. And this is how Light works. There are lots of aspects of it that catch your attention, be it the sound quality, use and positioning of the loops and licks, or the way a chorus or backing vocal is delivered. You’ll find something, then you’ll find something else, and not necessarily in the order your ears would expect. It’s the aural equivalent of pick ‘n mix. And that’s not doing it an injustice, rather, a testament to doing things a bit differently, adding flavour to arrangements.The best song on offer here is arguably 'On Nature'. It combines all of these things and still manages to sound effortless, its trump card a youthful choral backing. “Motivate”, which directly follows, achieves this in equal measure, and comes complete with a raunchy guitar backing. And yet, when you sit and think about it, the actual melodies on offer are quite ordinary.In places, this is inevitably more noticeable than others. The decision to make 'One Day' the lead iTunes single is a curious one; it’s actually one of the blandest cuts on here. And this isn’t an isolated incident; I couldn’t tell you anything about 'Struggla' or 'We Will Walk' either. Nevertheless while the arrangements on Light may feel familiar, they are at least pleasantly so. All in all, an expertly crafted, near consistent, uniquely recognizable listen, which while not groundbreaking, marks its territory with zest and confidence. 74 %Matisyahu on Myspace