Two

Utah Saints could hardly be described as the world’s most prolific musical collective. After all, the aptly named Two is only the sophomore effort from Jez Willis and DJ Tim Garbett and the follow-up to their 1993 eponymous debut. The intervening time has seen the duo gather together some celebrity mates – Michael Stipe contributes odd vocal ramblings to no fewer than four of the 14 tracks here – but the big question is whether Utah Saints still have the edge that differentiated them from the rest

of the dance posse way back when. The answer, thankfully, is a resounding yes!

Opener ‘Sun’ might be an exercise in tedious ambient nonsense, but these Saints soon get back to winning ways. Chuck D lends a tonsil or two to the frenetic ‘Power To The Beats’, which also manages to sample Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’ somewhere along the line. Then there’s the hypnotic spell cast by ‘Love Song’, the orchestral manoeuvres for a lark of ‘Lost Vagueness’, the post-bliss chillout of ‘Morning Sun’ and the frenzied, beat-heavy catalogue of seediness that is ‘Sick’.

‘Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On’ is brilliant, fusing psyched-out swirls of sound and James Brown-like soul-ed out screeching with beats so fat you need a taxi to get on their good side. Meanwhile, ‘Techknowledgy’ gets (j)iggy with The Stooges’ ‘Search And Destroy’, mutating the Igster’s more guttural feelings into a sprawling beat-fest of polyrhythms. ‘Three Simple Words’ comes on like Deep Forest, but will probably grace far fewer coffee tables than the wooded ones’ ambient classic, and yet there is still a hell of a lot going on in there, layer upon layer of samples, beats and dubs overlain into a patchwork quilt of musical styles with so much care that it’s almost impossible to see the seams.

Such is the beauty of Utah Saints: their willingness to experiment with genre after genre, their mastery of every medium they turn their hands to, and their absolute lack of fear.