Having previously claimed that "drugs make better music," London hip-pop rapper/vocalist
Example appears to have developed a conscience for his third album,
Playing in the Shadows. "Did we take it too far/did we chase the rabbit into wonderland?" he ponders on the
Nero-produced reflection on a "messed-up generation"; the
Skream collaboration "Under the Influence" sees him declare that "playtime's over" on a cautionary cocaine tale packed with suitably claustrophobic beats and industrial synths, while the chaotic "Wrong in the Head" features rabble-rousing chants of "no more fun nights for you young man" against a backdrop of skittering drum‘n'bass beats and wobbling basslines. But while the subject matter is much more contemplative, and indeed darker, than the pure party vibes of predecessor
Won't Go Quietly, its sound is still as hedonistic as ever, largely thanks to the presence of some of the contemporary dance scene's most illustrious figures, including
Faithless, who provide their trademark, stadium-sized synth riffs on the dreamy trance of "The Way," Dutch DJ
Laidback Luke, who fuses pulsing house beats with dirty basslines and a haunting piano riff on the epic floor-filler "Natural Disaster," and U.K. producer Michael Woods, who lends an anthemic quality to the chart-topper "Changed the Way You Kiss Me," a thunderous, bass-led account of a relationship gone sour. Encased in a four-to-the-floor production, the album's slightly preachy messages may fall on deaf ears, but things only start to go a little awry when he ditches the rally calls and embraces his more tender and sensitive side. "Kickstarts" proved that he's capable of creating a great, lovelorn, midtempo song, which makes it all the more disappointing that the corny '80s power ballad feel of "Microphone," the pedestrian, acoustic hip-hop of closer "Anything," and the brooding but dull melancholy of the title track, don't come close to matching its majestic standard. However, it's still refreshing to hear a dance artist whose lyrical themes extend beyond the "having fun in the club" clichés of his contemporaries, and while
Playing in the Shadows' sound doesn't always match his ambition, it's a confident and self-assured record which suggests that his dreams of headlining Wembley Stadium might not be as far-fetched as first thought. ~ Jon O'Brien