There has been a bit of a gap emerging, left by the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, a gap that has been longing for the new generation electro pop act where people can dance and sing to feel good rhythms and forget about everything apart from the moment they are in. After releasing one of the stand out debuts of 2015 with his self-titled LP, Boxed In staked his claim to this void showing that he is the new master craftsman in the genre. Oli Bayston, the mind behind Boxed In, has long been a musician that has been brimming with potential – even before he had a release to his name Oli had been writing songs for Lily Allen, engineered for Toy’s debut album as well as having played on albums for the likes of Willy Mason, Steve Mason and The 2 Bears. As confessed in our interview with Boxed In last year, Oli is a serial songwriter and writes about a song a day, so we knew album number two was not far around the corner.

Setting the scene for what is generally a more introspective album when compared to the eponymous debut, the soothing instrumental ‘Intro’ leads into the indie funk stylings in ‘Jist’ that have become a triumphant characteristic of the Boxed In sound. Its deep looping bassline and circling synthwave undercurrents are a welcome return to Oli’s musical prowess, one that is sure to have you dancing by the song’s end. If that hasn’t got you moving, then the warm infectious sounds in ‘Shadowboxing’ will, as it is Boxed In at their very best. Its simple motoric drumbeat and the swell of synths underneath Oli’s mellifluent deadpan vocals hits a frenzied climax as the song erupts midway through with the feel good of all feel good guitar solos. Melt’s strong start continues in the title track, starting with a repetitive cowbell in the 90s techno drum pattern and a throbbing bassline. Boxed In have found the knack of finding extraordinary euphoric highs in their dance pop anthems that not only sound great but make you want to listen to them over and over.

It’s not all smooth swimming on Melt as the next few numbers don’t exactly hit the same heights that have come before. ‘London Lights’ is overly pleasant, featuring slow classic 90s house piano stabs, shiny synth chords and futuristic atmospherics that fail to be memorable. The beginning of ‘Forget’ (as painful as it is to say) reminded me of ‘Bangerang’ by Skrillex, however, it does turn into a far, far better song, albeit a little simple sounding. Then ‘Up To You/Down To Me’ sounds like a song that would have been better given to another artist. Not all is lost in the remainder of the album, as ‘Black Prism’ is yet another moment of brilliance from Boxed In, this time being a lot more of an experimental approach by mixing gargantuan big room reverbing horn synths with quiet emotional calms of a lonely piano. As is ‘Underbelly’, which mixes instrumental stylings of BadBadNotGood and Kid A era Radiohead then erupts into the driving electronic rhythms and Krautrock-esque beat that could only be Boxed In. Then the final song ‘Open Ended’ nicely seals off the album in a calming reflective way that showcases exactly why Oli Bayston with his Boxed In alias has become so sought after in the music world.

There is no doubt that that Dan Carey (Kate Tempest, Emiliana Torrini, Hot Chip, The Kills) and Oli, who co-produced both Boxed In LP’s, is a match made in musical heaven – always creating a sound that is clean, cool and controlled. There are some truly fantastic songs on Melt and this is by no means a slouch in the quality of Oli Bayston’s work but, with the inconsistency in some of the tracks, I do get the feeling that the best is still to come from Boxed In.
Iain Lauder

Read our interview with Boxed In HERE.

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