Flume is a producer from Sydney who has been releasing music for a little over a decade. He’s released a handful of solo albums and done some remixes, but he’s also provided production for everyone from Ghettosocks to Vince Staples to Lorde in the process. His last solo release came just last year, when he dropped Palaces. Now he’s right back at with a new full-length album, Things Don’t Always Go The Way You Plan.

Producer-led albums can be some of the trickiest endeavors to navigate, and like most of his projects to date, Flume opts to split the difference between an instrumental album and a vocal compilation album. The good news here is that Flume is a very versatile producer, and he brings in an interesting array of guests that include Injury Reserve, Panda Bear, and Isabella Manfredi. Over the course of the album, we’re getting everything from weird experimental hip hop to EDM to modern pop to beautiful downtempo and everything in between. Most importantly, each guest artist is really put in a position to shine. The only thing holding this album back is that it doesn’t always feel connected from track to track. There aren’t any particularly bad tracks, and no guest flubs their appearance, but there is this feeling a few times over the course of the album that you’re hitting shuffle on a mix, not listening to a carefully constructed album with a particular flow to it. That said, it’s not the biggest criticism in the world, and there is certainly plenty of enjoyable moments across the album. In particular, Injury Reserve really make the most of their time on “Counting Sheep,” feeding off the energy of Flume’s dense and off-kilter beat and bringing a lot of intensity and creativity with their rhymes.

Things Don’t Always Go The Way You Plan isn’t perfect, but when you’re as talented as Flume is, an imperfect album can still be pretty damn good. There’s a lot of variety and creativity across the album, and Flume once again shows that he can work as an instrumental artist and as a collaborator with different types of vocalists and emcees.