Desmond Williams

Desmond Williams's Delights of the Garden is a bit genre defying, and would best be classified as a producer's record, because Williams put this whole thing together almost on his own, and the result is a mellow, easy rolling trip through a collection of tunes that are all at once lounge-y, jazzy and dubbed-out. The music, while extremely bottom-heavy, moves quite easily and tunes like the opener, "Um Favor," progress in an up-tempo gait, rich with instrumentation like guitar and percussion, as well lilting vocals. Other compositions, like "Oxygen," are slower, more methodical in their quirkiness, and easier to fall into. The low, pounding bass acts as a mesmerizing agent. There is an element of the unknown here, and perhaps that's why this album is hard to classify. It's instrumental, it's very mellow in a funky sort of way, and it's got a wide breadth of musical constituents and it's good. - Max Sidman