The startlingly good second album from Brighton’s Nostalgia 77, alias bedroom producer Ben Lamdin, The Garden picks up the bluesy atmospheres where the brilliant Songs For My Funeral left them. Lifting the mood with a dose of Afro-Latin rhythms but basically maintaining the rugged edge, The Garden should redeem Lamdin to those who found his first LP a bit inscrutable and unforgiving, while continuing to please fans and newcomers alike. It features a string of highly accomplished session players, not least beguiling trumpeter Kelsey Jones, who once beat Jamie Cullum to become Young Jazz Musician Of The Year, and the sparkling Alice Russell, whose collaborative cover of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army is happily included herein. Another one for the treasure chest.

Hobbes

Reprinted with kind permission of www.list.co.uk, published April 2005 (issue 518)