By drawing on what seems like an infinite stockpile of genres, Italy’s SofaTalk plots an idiosyncratic path for fans on his sophomore album project. Opening track ‘Dub Lush’ feat. Veezo is oozing with charm and character. Steadily unfurling over a mishmash of strung-out low-end frequencies into a whimsical dub-soul brew of peculiar chord arrangements, snatches of saxophone and sweeping overtones to make for a glorious slice of neo electronica that sets a defining precedent of originality early. 

‘The Truth’ released as the first single on the 31st January sees him employ a gentle thud and kick combo which subtlety loops around a tense, claustrophobic melody. Lifted in parts by a raspy, soulful vocal that nonchalantly carves through the mid-section with juxtaposing intent. 

The already haywire nature of The Soul’s Code becomes even more erratic as SofaTalk blurs the paradigms of house, funk and broken beat to produce the beautifully bewildering ‘Paradiddle’ – making for a stuttering, nervous melody that somehow manages to work in a series of jaunty 8-bit videogame effects over a melancholic and fragmented sound design. As the lo-fi spirit of ‘Complex Journey’ distills the giddy energy of SofaTalk’s second album, we find ourselves at the album’s halfway house with a beat that plateaus amidst a tie-dye of snappy sound effects and easy-going bongo percussion. Released as the third single on 22nd February, the jazz-house fusion that fuels each measure of ‘Around’ underscores SofaTalk’s penchant for experimenting to present a beat loaded with jazz-fills, over-mellow percussion and chopped female vocals. Pinned as the second single release on the 15th of February, ‘Out of Nowhere’ feat. Zopelar kicks off by way of a Latin-like drum loop, tambourine, and arching pad work. The beat then corkscrews through a series of dramatic flanged effects, squelchy synth and bossanova-like sonics whilst encompassed by fidgety house melody. The appropriately named ‘Drum Circles’ features a medley of deep, percussive elements that assemble like building blocks snapping together one-by-one creating the foundation for the track before the inclusion of a wobbling bassline takes hold.The last stop on SofaTalk’s wavey album journey comes in the shape of ‘Magpie Rules’ which epitomises the dream-like essence of the LP with its break-beat core, surreal overtones and mind-bending melodic-structures.