Album Review: Boxed In - Melt

Less than two years after an assured self-titled debut comes a glossier follow-up from Brit electro-popster Oli Bayston.

While Boxed In didn't quite gain the public traction it deserved, Melt is freed of some pressure to reinvent the wheel, maintaining the hypnotic loops while subtly adding new flecks of inspiration. A sabotage of afro-beat here, a tumble of Ultravox synths there and Bayston occasionally mumbling along like an apologetic frontman, Melt retains the sense of understatement with maximum impact. As Prince once said, there's joy in repetition.