North Borders is an album by british dj/producer Bonobo. It's style is somehow different from his previous album, the succesful The Black Sands. It was much more organic and the album was full of real instruments played across the album. North Borders is more electronic, but still a very relaxing and pretty music, that can be played on various occasions.
First of all the album does not have bangers or some harder songs, it is all filled with chillout/downtempo music, and to some people it may be boring that almost every track here is played in similiar style, however there are some exceptions. Like in previous album there are also some guest vocal tracks here. ''First Fires'' which is the first song has lyrics sung by Grey Reverend. It is a poppy ballad with electronic background and quasi-strings arrangement. Grey's vocals are clean and they they absolutely fit the album. The other guest vocal's are sung by famous soul singer Erykah Badu. ''Heaven for the Sinner'' is a decent song but it doesn't fit the album really and even though it is a pretty good pop/soul song it is overshadowed by rest of the album. There are also three more vocal tracks on the album sung by very talented female singers Szjerdene and Cornelia.
But to be honest the essence of the album is the rest of the album, instrumental downtempo tracks.
Second song ''Emkay'' has lush keyobard phrases, sampled vocals, fast percussion and sax licks that make it one of the highlights of the album. ''Cirrus'' is a hypnotic xylophone track, that gets more intense and hypnotic with every second. Bonobo uses different instruments sounds and samples to make the album sound rich. Various guitar sounds (great ''Sapphire'') vocal samples(Burial inspired ''Know You'') or keyboards( ''Antenna'') are used in many different ways, so you can hear different sounds with every listening. Some songs may seem unoriginal and fade next to others which are more catchy but that's the whole thing about Bonobo's music. It chills you out and makes you move but doesn't necessarily focuse on structure, essence of sound is the most important here.
The North Borders is an excellent album, but it has some weaker songs that are completely overshadowed by the greats of others like ''Know You'' or ''Emkay''. If you look for music that will help you to stop for a while and relax with it's beauty The North Borders is an album that will definitely meet your expectations.
