By all accounts a more mellow, dare one say, softer album than previous offerings, and the predominance of low tempos is something that might have been reconsidered. Having said that, Porter has sufficient talent as a composer and singer to ensure that he doesn't let his hitherto high standards slip. Keeping faith with the acoustic soul jazz sound of Liquid Spirit Porter displays consummate control over that sterling baritone to remind us that sensitivity of tone and timbre is also a form of strength and the approach on the new version of ‘Holding On’, the monster hit generated by his collaboration with EDM act Disclosure, is a smart way to open proceedings. Also noteworthy is the title track, above all for the excellent use of Alicia Olatuja as a second voice that acts as a discreet, additional horn, while a brass section featuring the impressive Yosuke Sato pays dividends throughout. Lyrically as well as vocally, Porter strikes the right chords, and the cultural insight and social conscience of songs such as ‘French African Queen’ and ‘Fan The Flames’ make the point that there is a big personality as well as voice at play here. But it's a great shame that these two important songs appear at the tail end of the set, almost as if they are afterthoughts, when by all rights they should appear as a kind of centrepiece. Whether the singer is to be moulded first and foremost as the political firebrand of ‘1960? What’ or a less rabble-rousing balladeer thus seems to be under debate. The two strands are not of course incompatible, but one senses there is a lean towards one at the expense of the other in what is a solid rather than spectacular offering.