Phoniks is a producer from Portland, Maine, best known for his work with emcees such as Awon and Anti-Lilly. While he’s been working for years and has produced albums and EPs with emcees and released beat tapes, the one thing that’s eluded him thus far is a full-length solo album. Well, he can now check that off his list as releases Down To Earth.

The idea behind Down To Earth is that the album is supposed to be your soundtrack to your travels through space, with nothing but a pair of headphones and all the time in the world to enjoy the music. This might sound a little strange until you press play, and Phoniks soothing jazzy grooves take you on this wonderful journey. Over the course of two years, Phoniks dug through about 250 hours’ worth of recorded material to find just the right forty minutes of the perfect grooves. There’s just enough variety to keep everything interesting, but the most important thing about the album is that Phoniks lays down some great memorable melodies, and the flow from start finish is perfect. There’s just this soothing, calming quality to his lo-fi boom bap beats that sets your mind at ease. It really is an album that you listen to on your headphones and just get completely lost in while Phoniks flips some great jazz samples for you. On top of all this, Phoniks also makes great use of some short vocal clips to create a conversation across the album and to bridge the tracks together. This of course is easier said than done in most cases, but Phoniks is so good at what he does, he makes everything sound effortless.

There’s not anything too unusual about Phonik’s approach to his first solo album, but sometimes you don’t need to overthink things. His forte as a producer is creating these laidback jazz-sampling grooves, and that’s exactly what he gives you on Down To Earth. It’s a gorgeous, well-constructed album without a lot of frills to it.