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Sep 03, 2020 Web Exclusive By Paul Bullock

4 is another bold, brassy, and bionic Big Black Delta album. It smartly advances from 2016’s synthpop standout Trágame Tierra and 2017’s instrumental opus whoRU812 by adding massive hair metal guitars and new romantic mood swings. As usual, Jonathan Bates wrote, recorded, produced, and released this thing all by himself, but it feels like it’s the work of a whole team of people.

The A-side is particularly strong, starting off with the screaming “Lord Only Knows.” Fans of 2013’s self-titled debut will definitely like “Vessel,” which has a huge swooning hook and tastefully pitch shifted vocals. “Politics of Living” could have been recorded in northern England in the early 1980s. Perhaps the most exciting track is “Summoner,” a driving dance number that builds to a thunderous gallop and already has remixes from James Welsh, The Bodies Obtained, and Clearside. “Heaven Here I Come” and “Canary” are also well worth the stream/download.

This is another series of epic songs from an often overlooked but increasingly ambitious and idiosyncratic project. Hopefully, Big Black Delta will gain more recognition as Bates has contributed two cuts to the soundtrack to the just released third Bill & Ted film, Bill & Ted Face the Music. (www.bigblackdelta.com)

Author rating: 8/10