Throughout his career Simon Green (bka Bonobo) has managed to stay close to his roots in downtempo. With Black Sands he continued to increase his use of live instrumentation. Nylon stringed guitars, Fender Rhodes, and electric bass pop up on many of the tracks. It's almost as if his production tools slowly change into a live jazz combo over the course of the album. This culminates in the album closing title track, an awesome multi-instrumental jam that floats by at a waltz's pace. There's a lot more to go through before you get there though. Tracks like "Kiara" and "Eyes Down" feature dubstep inspired production while "Kong" seems to take a look back at Bonobo's previous material. Its chopped breaks and sample based inspirations harking back to the golden age of Ninja Tune. He teams up with Andreya Triana for vocals on a few tracks as well for some HGSOB moments. More quality downtempo from one of the genre's best.

• black double vinyl pressing
• music label: Ninja Tune 2010

reviewed by Le Haim 04/2014