Fat Freddy’s Drop can easily be described in one word – smooth. Everything about this album is smooth, relaxed, and wonderful. They one of those bands who you can listen to again and again and always find something new in their music. The first listen you might be taken into by the groove, the second you might get simply enchanted with Dallas Tamaira’s voice and on subsequent listens you might get a deeper understanding of the lyrics.

The album begins with the Big BW, a laid back mellow tune that rolls along smoothly, reminding me a little of Sade’s No Ordinary Love. Something I really love about this album is the way different genres can be encased in the one track, which is showcased on Shiverman. An excellent dubby house like tune which uses reverb and echo on Dallas’ voice to build the vibe up and up, and then breaks down into a horn filled funk out. The Camel is a slow groove track featuring the wonderful Alice Russell, with one of the funkiest keyboard endings for two decades.

The Nod is aptly named, because this is what you must do to the funky soul. The great thing about this tune is mid track it breaks out into an almost ragtime jazz time signature! It’s completely unexpected and utterly fantastic. The Raft is very much a dub reggae tune, with lyrics such as “although we may not be many my people are ready for the storm to come” and the reggae horn stabs accentuating every beat.

All the tunes on the album are awesome, and although this is their second album they’ve bypassed the sophomore slump, delivering a smooth and pleasurable listening experience that’s sure to please existing fans and gain them a whole lot more.