Read Between The Lines CD

With a discography stretching back to the mid 1990s to his name, Tom Withers AKA Klute is now one of drum & bass's elder statesmen. We can forgive him, then, for taking his time over Read Between The Lines, his first album in four years (and eighth in total). Beginning with a slice of woozy ambient soul ("Come To The End", featuring folksy chanteuse Naomi Pryor), Withers lays down a succession of tracks that blend his usual punchy D&B rhythms with nods to electrofunk, skewed funk, spacey soul, vintage UK garage, trippy electronica, and the kind of experimental D&B that made Exit Recordings famous. The overriding feel, though, is of an artist bending liquid funk into inviting new shapes.