Given The Offering's evocation of neighboring and overlapping crews such as Bugz in the Attic, DKD, and 4hero, it could be presumed that Darkhouse Family's Earl Jeffers and Don Leisure are from West London. They're actually based directly west of the broken beat epicenter, in Cardiff, yet they fit into a London lineage that can be traced as far back as the rare groove scene. The duo's first album follows a biennial series of EPs that began in 2010. Starting with askew beatmaking exercises that occasionally featured vocalists such as Om'Mas Keith and Vanity Jay, Jeffers and Leisure gradually incorporated live instrumentation. For these sessions, they snared multi-instrumentalist Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu), rock-solid drummer Daf Davies, and musician/arranger Jonathan Powell to complement their production work and trio of vocalists. References bounce across several decades. A high-minded James Mtume oration is brilliantly applied to the opening title track and sets the album's uplifting tone. The nasal group-vocal refrain on the following "Radiate" sounds like the work of Dr. Funkenstein descendants (or Co-Op club regulars). "Modaji Suite" reworks, to sparkling effect, a lazing tune Dave Grusin granted to Harvey Mason prior to recording it on his own. Heartfelt Vanity Jay showcase "Journey to Love," with its sampled Slick Rick interjections, chiming keyboards, chunky breakbeat, recalls the hip-hop soul that sprouted from new jack swing. Whether citing 1972, 1975, 1985, 1992, or 1999, the album is firmly in 2017/2018, inviting from the top and stimulating through the bottom with fresh nuances applied to the scholarly recombinant approach. No time is wasted. In fact, the several outros -- another fine touch -- are all distinctive and could be developed into full-blown tracks.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo