Is it Balearic? A common question round these parts. The answer isn’t always straightforward. But in some instances it’s pretty clear, put simply, some things are more easily categorised. OCIB - Of course it’s Balearic. Does this new one from Jex Opolis fit that description? A clue is kind of in the name, so basically yes, but there’s quite a bit more going on than a lot of the music that gets lumped into that bracket.

On ‘AMBIENTE’, he's certainly tamed the tempos from some of his recent hitters. Take ‘Urbin Jungle’, a low down warped out stomper of an opener. Screeching into view, with a deep deep bass sound for added crunch. Things get a little more out there with the Cetacean paean ‘Contact with the Whales’ which has some carefully chosen spoken word snips from a familiar outer space series. ‘Phat Planet’ continues into the astral plane with a suitably galactic soundscape of sweeping synths and bleeps.

‘Fish Dance’ is a little more on the funky side, bouncing along nicely with a head nod groove, before ‘Gramma Song’ reins in the tempo again for a soft landing. ‘Beaver Hills’ extends an acid line into a squelchy beatfest. There’s some great variety here, but all are tightly produced while still pushing in diverse directions. The album closes out with a solo piano version of ‘Gramma Song’ as a reprise that makes for a simple and effective closing statement. Top music, great timin’.

AMBIENTE is out now and available via Bandcamp.