London drummer/producer/composer Moses Boyd has been making a lot of noise in just a few short years. He first started with the groups Binker & Moses and Moses Boyd Exodus, and collaborated with the likes of Nubya Garcia and Terri Walker, just to name a few. It was in 2018, though, when he released his first solo album, Displaced Diaspora, that he really raised the bar by winding his way between jazz, dance, R&B, soul, and hip hop. Now he’s back and even better with his sophomore album, Dark Matter.

Normally, when an artist is working with a lot of different influences like Boyd and doesn’t neatly fit into a box, it can take a little while for them to figure out how to put everything together. However, when it comes to Moses Boyd, he seems to be working on an accelerated timeline. On Dark Matter, he’s making sophisticated jazz-soul that is very much influenced by the likes of Herbie Hancock or Sonnie Liston Smith, but then updating it with modern dance and hip hop production, and then making it his own by throwing in some neo-soul as well. It’s an ambitious album, to say the least, and it’s one that requires patience at times, but at other times just bumps, and at other times just rocks a soulful groove. This is also informed by the different guests on the album, which include Poppy Ajudha, Obongjayar, Joe Armon-Jones, Nonku-Phiri, and Nubya Garcia. The real key to what makes this album great, though, is the way in which Boyd has cleverly sequenced everything to lead this musical conversation where everything connects well, from these moments of wild experimentation that pushes traditional songwriting forms to the brink, and these moments of traditional soul, dance, and R&B. It’s an album where you don’t know what’s going to happen next, but after a few tracks, you just learn to trust Boyd and let him drive the car, because you know you’re going to go somewhere good.

Not many artists make the leap on their sophomore album that Moses Boyd did on Dark Matter. In a few short years, he has really established himself as one of the most creative musicians working today, bringing together a lot of different influences and genres and combining them all in a way that is completely unique.