Jason Farrall and
Kenny Clarke (no relation to the legendary jazz drummer) had already made names for themselves as producers and remix artists on the U.K. club scene before they got together with keyboardist and bassist Rajaneesh Dwiviedi to form
Lithium Project. The trio's second full-length release, Many World's Theory, finds them continuing to explore the border regions between acid jazz, ambient, and Detroit techno to mostly interesting and sometimes exhilarating effect. The excitement is fairly understated for the most part, though, as it is on the intriguing but gentle funk groove of "Camera Obscura" and the molten,
Japan-on-Quaaludes flow of "Just Three Things." But the unexpected combination of goth vocals and a casual but powerfully swinging jazz groove on "Blue Feel" will probably take you by surprise, and the straight-up jazz (with subtly eerie atmospherics) of "The Cosmologist" is also startlingly effective. Perhaps best of all is the album's hidden track, a strange sort of trip-hop blues built around a vintage Delta blues vocal loop. Recommended. ~ Rick Anderson