Black Medicine - Black Medicine

Hailing from Leith, Black Medicine have produced a studio album built on solid craftsmanship and some deep listening habits. It's easy to spot the dub and trip hop influences yet the group manage to build their own sound around these and draw out the song structures to suit performance outside the studio. Slowly plodding bass lines, perfectly accented snare and worldly percussion elements guide each track, while mellow trombone lines and atmospheric guitar riffs organically create a mystical ambience for Crazy Jane's vocals to float around with. Overall this is a well rounded first album with only slight jamming tendencies and a penchant for over-production keeping it only just outside the grasp of greatness. [Jon Mercer]