“Paradise Circus”
from the album Heligoland
2010
iTunes
Fans of Massive Attack have not waited in vain. Seven years after their last album, 2003’s 100th Window, the British trip-hop masters are back with another marvelously moody missive. With a rotating roster of vocalists, as is the band’s signature, Heligoland> offers a starry cast of collaborators. TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe kicks things off riding a tumbling groove with his resonant, soulful vocals on “Pray for Rain.” Longtime friend Martina Topley-Bird swoops back in on several tracks, giving the skittering and scratching “Babel” and the pulsating “Psyche’” a topping of her girlish yet smoky style. Hope Sandoval leavens her sweet style with a tinge of menace on “Paradise Circus.” And Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz pines with the best of them over the acoustic-electric layers of “Saturday Come Slow” with a plaintive, early-Bowie bent. The vibe is definitely late-night and low-key as bass riffs rumble in the distance, woozy horns appear and disappear with disorienting charm, and synths thud and sputter with oddly timed but danceable rhythms. The result is a record that alternates between fuzzy and crisp; those who like to get lost in their headphones should approve.