Walton – Beyond

Walton moves away from the dubstep and garage sounds of his early EPs, broadening his scope to take in influences from house, techno and experimental electronic music. There's a familiar, lived-in feel to many cuts here, with drums that evoke 808 patterns, samples chopped in a way that recall classic early dance music, and occasional nods to acid house in the basslines of tracks like Help Me Out.

Beyond is polished, but never over-produced or self-indulgent – each piece is kept short and punchy, with intelligent, well thought-out structures. The highlights – from the bubbling synths and washed-out female vocals of Can't U See, to the glitchy minimalism of You & Me, to the filtered house of Every Night – have the timeless feel of music from a simpler, more dancefloor-oriented era. That knack for knowing how much is just enough is rare, meaning Beyond is something of an understated triumph. [Bram E. Gieben]