Hawthorne Headhunters

After teasing unsuspecting fans with a five-song taster of their latest, though surprisingly long-brewing, project, Hawthorne Headhunters members Black Spade and Coultrain return from the kitchen with the sizzling and wholly fulfilling main course in their now expanded Myriad of Now full-length. Striding around in a fit of intoxicated swagger, induced by heavy doses of '80s-era synth funk, future-facing electronics, an expansive rhythmic pace and strong touches of love-drunk soul, the record's varied works please your head, heart and tailbone in equal measure. Guest soulstress I Am holds down a pair of dance floor-filling love jams in "Luv Galactic" and "Boats In Your Eyes," which act as a straight-up stylistic counterpoint to more adventurous turns like psycho story "My Sweetheart the Drunk" and the double-time electro groove of "Hole in the World." Both Spade and Coultrain match their flavourful vocal melodies with clever lyrical themes throughout, the former showing equally creative dexterity in his rapped barbs and observations. Even the building emotional drip of lone instrumental "Ghostfields" finds a vacant easy chair in your mind to stretch out in on a record that definitely elevates the past work of its two main co-conspirators to new and impressive heights.