The central media story here is ‘major label debut’ but that’s not the only point of interest. Although Porter’s lordly baritone has been one of the significant discoveries in the past few years, his emergence as a songwriter is also worthy of note. 2010’s Water and 2012’s Be Good showed that the west coast-born New York-based singer had much to say about the state of the world as well as affairs of the heart, and the pattern is hereby confirmed. ‘Wind Song’, ‘Brown Grass’ and ‘Movin’’ all have a deep soulfulness that flags up a continuum running from Bobby Timmons to Donny and Stevie, but it is the title track and ‘Musical Genocide’ that show how artfully the singer can turn tradition into modernity. The former has a snappy double time ‘soul clappin’ groove and the latter a doo-wop style piano figure bolstered by a sparse but hefty bassline that has a faint echo of early 1990s hip hop. Porter’s band plays with the same power and control as it did on the previous releases and the singer is in good voice throughout, though the album may have benefited from the omission of a few of the less eventful ballads. The result is a consolidation of his progress to date rather than a sweeping reinvention. Yet it’s early days for Porter as a recording artist, and chances are that he has at least one chef d’oeuvre on the horizon to go beyond the majesty of Water.