Album Review: Night Works - Urban Heat Island

If London electro-pop lord Gabriel Stebbing aka Night Works was deserted on Urban Heat Island and he could only take one thing, it would have to be his synthesizer.

The record sounds like the 3am nightlife version of The Breakfast Club featuring, alongside a strong dose of synthetic sounds, '80s-style kick drums, a dreamscape of echoed vocals and the odd cowbell.

The opening track Boys Born In Confident Times is a gentle memory of comfort, pierced by one of many synth riffs that jar with the soft mix of acoustic guitar and falsetto harmonies. The lyrics have an understated profundity, describing some ordinary moments in beautiful ways. “I find myself catching sight of you sometimes in the way someone turns their head,” Stebbing sings with an endearing lisp.

Highlight track Share The Weather sits in an R&B sweet spot with some slick voice production and a melodic line comparative to Miguel. Out of nowhere, there's a goofy yet sophisticated rap verse from fellow London artist Roman and at six-and-a-half minutes long, the track allows Night Works to slip into a great bassline and soulful electric guitar-driven coda.

Although some of the record's lyrics and loops are repeated in a sleepy kind of way, the melancholy layering of I Tried So Hard, with its cinematic piano motif, is powerful repetition done right. The finger-snapping of Long Forgotten Boy is unforgettable and there's even a few synth-smothered tunes like The Eveningtime that manage originality in a world of perms and lycra.

The later it gets, the better Urban Heat Island sounds, so try it after a night out just before sunrise and once you've adjusted to Night Works' world, the final tracks blended with the first rays of sunshine will hit the spot.