Album Review: Rae & Christian - Mercury Rising

There was a time when Mark Rae and Steve Christian's hotpot of trip-hop and soul graced more Chill Out compilations than Tricky's had spliffs. Mercury Rising's very existence therefore boggles after 12 years of absolute silence, but it delivers exactly what you'd hope. The perfectly titled Happy features a soulifying Mark Foster (he of The People), Travis and 1975 serve cocktails by a palm-tree'd swimming pool and fly rhymes are dropped in Favourite Game, Check The Technique (hello, Jazzy Jeff!) and A2B. Rae & Christian's return is slinky, sexy and very, very cool.