- The transition from choppy producer slash remixer in his earliest days, to the release of his gorgeous and deeply personal solo effort a couple of years ago was a quick, whimsical and relatively jarring one for anyone that had been following this young English upstart.

That self-titled debut, despite its nearly endless and all-encompassing praise, never really struck a chord with me. If anything the album was too introspective and too sparse, the record only truly resonating with me in short bursts and only in my darkest, eerily self-reflective times.

Despite Overgrown having it's share of subtle nods to hip-hop production Wu-Tang's RZA popping up early on the record is still a welcome and unexpected shock. That song 'Take A Fall For Me' is the only track where Blake shares the vocal duties and is an odd, but strangely compelling listen. The track doesn't just sound legit and worthy of its inclusion, it further muddies the waters between hip-hop and intelligent electronica, both genres looking back as they go forward, both sharing an unwavering link to sampling and looping, both owing a great deal to their soul and r'n'b forefathers. Hearing RZA claim he "wouldn't trade a smile for a million quid" is just one of the beautiful juxtapositions that stem from RZA channelling Blake and is worth the price of admission alone.

Lead single 'Retrograde' is Blake at his minimal and engaging best. getting his croon on and harmonising with himself as he coils around a slow burn beat that reaches climax at just the right moments, the quivering hum paired with the most simple percussion: a song truly more than the sum of its parts.

If RZA wasn't enough of a pleasant surprise, sound pioneer and all-round great guy Brian Eno lends Blake his deft hands behind the boards and Eno is the only other human credited with production on Overgrown. Eno's track 'Digital Lion' is one of the most brain melting trips on here, the song an entrancing and almost tribal moment. It's another left field eye-brow raiser which is deftly sequenced and again does nothing but add to the momentum of the record, the song then giving way to Blake's cowbell heavy 'Voyeur', a more muted take on LCD Soundsystem's now defunct groove marathons, another highlight on a record that has it's fair share of uplifting downer anthems.

As Overgrown winds down and wraps up I'm left feeling strangely connected to the young Brit, the handsome scamp truly finding the perfect mix between his increasingly favoured genres, somehow creating a multi-faceted monster that rarely fails to engage and uplift, despite my best attempts at indifference.

- Jay Edwards.