Jordan Rakei - Wallflower, review

From New Zealand via Brisbane, now resident in London, comes the next bright young hope of jazz.

A vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and beat maker who has skidded onto the scene with a neo-soul sound that soothes and stirs, a genre-mashing mix of electronic wizardry and jazzy time signatures lent weight by Rakei’s reflective lyrics and enigmatic croon.

“Separate from your mind,” he sings on Chemical Coincidence, with its quavering, reverse-recorded strings.

Aided by a stellar rhythm section, particularly on the galloping Sorceress, and on first single Nerve, an ode to self-love, by guitarist Dave Okumu of The Invisible, Rakei weaves disparate sounds with quiet audacity and holistic flair.

He plays Shepherd’s Bush Empire on October 20.