I Believe

Album Review

For many years, the M Records label was exclusively dedicated to the work of its owner, Legendary Pink Dots bassist Ryan Moore, who makes brilliant instrumental dub albums under the name Twilight Circus Dub Sound System. Recently, Moore has begun branching out into production, releasing very fine albums featuring such illustrious singers and DJs as Ranking Joe, Luciano, and Michael Rose. The latest is a showcase for the young bobo dread singjay Turbulence, whose sound is getting rootsier and less strident as he gets older. On I Believe, Moore himself is missing entirely from the credits, and the album's sound ends up being a fun mixture of dancehall, roots, and nyahbinghi flavors. Unfortunately, there's also a mixture of both crucial and pedestrian material — "What the Hell" is energetic enough, but the seesawing two-chord progression gets tiresome quickly, and while the nyahbinghi drumming that underpins "Taking Over" is always nice to hear, the song itself never really takes off. Ditto the cliché-laden title track. On the other hand, the horticultural ode "High Grade" is explosively catchy, and a combination track featuring Prince Javed and titled "Sweet and Pretty" is another highlight; Turbulence's vocals on "Mama Don't Cry" show him continuing to grow and mature as a singer. Turbulence's growing legion of fans will want to pick this one up, though newcomers may want to start with some of his earlier Greensleeves and VP material.