JOHN CARROLL KIRBY Vinyl & CDs

Review: There's a definite sense of "time and place" throughout John Carrol Kirby's latest album, Blowout. He recorded it all during a recent trip to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, "between 5am wake-up calls from orpopendola birds and psychedelic sunsets", drawing inspiration from the people, music and nature that surrounded him. It's certainly a joyful and colourful affair - despite his insistence that it's about "enjoying yourself even though life is tough, before the candle blows out" - with Kirby mixing sparkling, often kaleidoscopic 1980s electrofunk synth sounds with warming grooves, pastoral woodwind instrumentation, and musical motifs that draw on his love of jazz-funk and fusion. It's basically a sensationally summery affair whose mostly subtly nods to Costa Rican musical culture only enhance the album.

Review: The ever-prolific John Carroll Kirby is back on Stones Throw barely a minute after releasing no less than two albums last year. Of course, no one is complaining when the quantity is matched with the quality Kirby brings, and Blowout is bursting with the laid back musicality and inherent joy Kirby is so well-loved for. The album was recorded during a recent stay in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, and you can sense the surroundings feeding into the music, from the 5am wake up call from the oropendola birds to the blissful sunsets. This is smooth as silk jazz funk with a mission: to help you enjoy life. Consider this mission accomplished.

Review: John Carroll Kirby has worked with the likes of Solange, Frank Ocean, Sebastian Tellier and many more, but he's equally celebrated as a solo artist who returns to Stones Throw for his fifth LP. This time around, the album has been made in tandem with incredible Canadian artist Yu Su, who lends her touch to the production around Kirby's infectious keys. The album is largely instrumental save for an uplifting guest spot from Laraaji on opening track 'Dawn of New Day', but as with previous Kirby albums he has more than enough to say in the conviction of his playing. Ever chameleonic, his sound on Dance Ancestral is removed from the solo piano ambience of Conflict, but as ever Kirby's deep-rooted musicality soars, buffeted by Yu Su's fantasy confections. If you're in search of something to make you feel good, this record has positive energy for days.

Review: When it was first released digitally this time last year, John Carroll Kirby's Conflict was promoted as a "balm for a time of crisis". Now finally available on vinyl, the collection's soothing, poignant and melancholic piano pieces feel every bit as essential as they did this time last year. Much of the music was inspired by the composer's meditations on the fallout from war, though there were other perhaps more trivial questions he felt needed answering through music (see 'Who Will Replace Brandon Lee' and his musical interpretation of an imagined visit from boxer Anthony Joshua). The results are uniformly beautiful, with Kirby cannily combining slow, sometimes expansive piano motifs with ghostly ambient chords and occasional deep, warm basslines. If you enjoy the work of Nils Frahm, you'll love this.