Slime makes for great Company

A sense of musical angst is immediately apparent with opener “Thurible” – an intricate, saturated and complex mesh of immediately infectious electronic elements and voices that leave you slightly on edge. Compare this directly to the sparsely arranged, almost barren and simplistic “Down and Tell”, and you’ll see what I mean by juxtaposition.

It’s the eclectic variety of these ten tracks – whittled down from a reported 400 or so – that makes this seductive debut from the Newcastle native (aka Will Archer) so impressive. Like so many great moments in the vast field of electronic music, the songs themselves seem to defy genre-fication, no more so than on the irresistible “Hot Dog” – without a doubt the offering’s pièce de résistance – which is sex music at its very best.

As an ode to club bangers of yesteryear, “My Company” sees Archer take a step into the world of post-dubstep, while tracks like “Symptoms” would be closer to straight up pop. An eye for good collaborators also helps; “At Sea Again” sees Archer recruit French-Belgian vocalist Selah Sue enlsited to produce a hauntingly scant yet constantly evolving track that's as hypnotic as they come.

A musical Venn diagram of sorts, Slime spans many genres, but by doing so exists in his own (even if you can expect comparisons along the likes of "the love child of Bonobo and Jai Paul adopted in youth by Gold Panda and given piano lessons by James Blake – that’s Slime" to be rife). All irony aside, this bold debut is something to be admired - a creative and eclectic gem to be cherished and nurtured.