Dobie

Anthony Alexander Campbell, better known as Dobie,, finally gets around to following up The Sound of One Hand Clapping but of course he’s known for work with Tricky, Rodney P and Soul II Soul among others – the reputation has allowed him some freedom. But the album format suits him and We Will Not Harm You is packed with ideas extrapolated from hip-hop and big-beat and chillout and drum’n’bass, meaning he flits and flirts around all of those genres without ever quite committing to any single one.

It’s an often exhilarating ride – like Fatboy Slim if he wasn’t always concerned with the big, dumb and obvious, with the cheesy runaway single. Like The Chemical Brothers if they got a bit deeper, went a bit wider, like instrumental Massive Attack remixes.

There’s a pulse and groove and there are some dark, unsettling moments. There’s plenty to surprise and for a while there it just coasts along nicely, reminding you of the downbeat/chillout stuff from the last century; the best elements that is.

We Will Not Harm You rolls along in a more fluid/less cut-n-paste-y way than the post-Endtroducing work of DJ Shadow. It is not as dark and twisted as Gaslamp Killer and not as innocuous as the sometimes-filler work from Howie B. But if you think of those two names as good reference points and are happy enough to sit with something that arrives pretty much slap bang in the middle of their work then you’ll enjoy the ride. I did.