High voltage dubs

David Harrow is a true musical Zelig, popping up at unexpected but pivotal moments in experimental/club music history from the start of the ‘80s in London and Berlin right through to the present in L.A.. And he’s still crackling with invention. This album harks back to his dub days as a keyboardist in Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound collective, but it’s mainly done with modular synths, chirping and singing to one another, filling the dub spaces with sound as if it were the ecosystem of a tropical forest. Topped off with shakers, congas, and melodicas, it’s something like a more electronic take on African Head Charge at their most genial, not surprising as Harrow was heavily involved in the construction of their groundbreaking album Songs of Praise. It creates a whole world of its own over 15 tracks, and Harrow is clearly as in love with the possibilities of sound as he’s ever been.