- The eight-track Odyssey is Murlo's largest release to date, and mostly picks up where last year's Into Mist left off. The mood is more straightlaced than usual for the East Midlands producer, the structures more far-ranging. In places, the pressure to make a "big statement" seems to weigh Murlo down. Both "Hunter" and "Cascade" hit emotional peaks that recall, in a funny way, Burial's recent lighters-out anthems. His melodies are inflated in size and his rhythms slowed to a ponderous trudge. Thankfully, Murlo is never short of new ideas, and he doesn't linger over these moments for long.
As the record wears on it roams more and more freely. On "Rift," the shuffling percussion serves as occasional backing to a string of grandiose synth melodies. "High Rise" opens as a kind of bassline house—complete with MIDI-guitar bends—before disappearing into a new age breakdown sprinkled with harps, then returning as something else. (It slips seamlessly into the heartfelt "I Swear"; Odyssey's sequencing has been carefully thought out.) It's all pretty engaging, but the record's best moments offer more immediate thrills. On "Lanced," the grand melodies give way to a sultry dancehall sway. "Furnace" is a sparring match between soca snares and weird metallic pings. Odyssey is a good crack at the extended format, but it's a relief when Murlo lets his hair down.
Tracklist01. Lanced
02. Hunter
03. Cascade
04. Moodswung
05. Rift
06. Furnace
07. High Rise
08. I Swear