Musca CD

Given that the early portion of his career was marked out by a string of superb, left-of-centre deep house singles and albums, it's been heartening to see Matthew Herbert return to his roots in recent times. Musca, his latest album, continues this trend, offering more sumptuous "domestic house" - whatever that means - featuring a wealth of guest vocalists, most of whom deliver quietly soulful and hugely evocative contributions. Musically, Musca mines the glitchy, minimalistic deep house sound that Herbert perfected in the late 1990s, adding a dash of jazziness, a smattering of ear-pleasing live instrumentation, and the kind of warming sonic depth often associated with the work of fellow '90s deep house survivor Charles Webster. In other words, it's a superb collection of grown up, musically rich deep house songs.