Bonobo - Distance in Static

What do you do if you’re one of the most subtly successful electronic musicians on the planet and you arrive at the heights of your eighth studio album? If you’re Bonobo you get the (virtual) rolodex out and invite guests of the globe-trotting quality of Ichiko Aoba and Hundred Waters’ Nicole Miglis to the party.

These musicians’ disparate origins are important. Bonobo’s music was always wider in scope than most of his peers and ‘Distance in Static’ — true to its name — is a celebration of geographical diversity, with lyrics in English, Urdu and Japanese, samples of vintage Iranian music and the use of a Chinese guzheng.

Bonobo deserves praise for dreaming into life a musical nirvana where Arooj Aftab’s Middle Eastern classicism can sit alongside Nilüfer Yanya’s London indie and Aoba’s idyllic Japanese soundscapes.

Sadly, though, he also bears responsibility for the heavy-handed electronic production and leaden beats that weigh it down.

Almost certainly. As it is, ’Distance in Static’ leaves the impression that Bonobo has carefully crafted a utopian global village then lit it right on fire.