The rich, enveloping musical world of Randolph Matthews draws from a fascinating array of source material – from beatboxing to jazz via African rhythms and subtle electronica – to create multilayered sound-worlds that are intensely personal. On the scene-setting album opener ‘Paranoid Horizon’, Matthews constructs an expansive, polyrhythmic web of lines: a dancing backdrop of percussive hits, hints of background chants, ghostly vocal drones, and an insistent six-note motif that assumes ever greater importance, over which the vocalist’s soulful lead line floats freely. If the swinging, finger-clicking ‘Falling Again’ showcases Matthews’ ability to construct satisfying wholes from the simplest of means, the haunting, emotive ‘Spirit River’ seems to channel much more ancient musical traditions. Embracing blues, folk, soul and jazz, the deep, rolling groove of ‘Orange Sun’ evokes kindred spirits such as Terry Callier and Jon Lucien, while the title-track – an affecting, sorrowing chorale – reaches the ear as a gossamer-light caress.