Nicolas Jaar - Sirens review: Step out, take stand

The beauty of Nicolas Jaar's work has always been its unpredictability. He has followed a line from slow-mo atmospheric pop (his 2011 debut, Space Is Only Noise, was masterful in this regard) to glitchy electronica (last year's Pomegranates soundtrack) and dubby fuzzy jazz with Dave Harrington as Darkside.

Sirens is a further twist. Jaar uses the album to tease out ideas and themes about the world beyond his own space. There are references to the politics of his Chilean homeland, his artist father Alfredo (who produced the album sleeve) and the current state of the world, all delivered within a loosely aligned frame of ambient whirrs, lonesome piano lines, blurry electronics and Jaar's own tingle of a falsetto.

Be it how The Governor builds and paces, or the contextual nuances writ large on No and History Lesson, this is the sound of Jaar stepping out and taking a stand. nicolasjaar.net