''Dark Matter'' is the debut solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by British jazz musician

Moses Boyd Moses Boyd (born 30 April 1991) is a British jazz drummer, composer, record producer, bandleader and radio host. His debut solo studio album ''Dark Matter'' (2020) was nominated for the 2020 Mercury Prize. In 2014, Boyd and saxophonist Binke ...

. Boyd released it independently on 14 February 2020 under his own label, Exodus Records. The album was his third-ever solo project, following ''Absolute Zero'' (2017) and ''Displaced Diaspora'' (2018). ''Dark Matter'' was met with widespread critical acclaim upon release and was later nominated for the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

Background and recording

Boyd explained to

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that the record "isn’t meant to be a negative record; it's meant to unify, to make people think.” On the inspiration and motive behind the record's title, he told ''

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'':

Composition

Musically, Dark Matter is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

record with elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

grime Grime may refer to: * Dirt, in the form of black, ingrained dust Music * Grime music, a genre of music * ''Grime'' (album), a 2001 album by Iniquity * "Grime", a 2023 song by Macklemore from ''Ben'' * "Grime", a 2024 song by Kittie from ''Fire ...

, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

. Piotr Orlov of ''

Afropunk Afro-punk (sometimes spelled Afro-punk, Afropunk, or AfroPunk) refers to the participation of black people in punk music and subculture. Participation in punk music has existed since the genre's origins in the 1969 with the ska movement of Boss ...

'' additionally highlighted the record's influences of

afro-pop African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop, Afro pop or African pop) can be defined as any African music, regardless of genre, that uses Western pop musical instruments, such as the guitar, piano, trumpet, etc.Olabode, O. (2023, J ...

and

afrobeats Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a st ...

. Elizabeth Aubrey of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' described the record as a "melting-pot of genres and styles where complex jazz rhythms sit alongside he aforementioned genres, stressing that "whilst its head leans towards the mathematical with its polymath rhythms and intricate structures, its heart is firmly on the dancefloor." Bryan Hahn of ''

'' confirmed that on the album, Boyd "ignored expectations and rules, blending genres, freshly recorded sounds, and emotions."

Release and promotion

Despite releasing the album's lead single "Stranger Than Fiction" on 23 October 2019, Boyd only announced the album with the release of the second single, "Only You" on 27 November 2019. The album's third and final single, "Shades of You" was released on 9 January 2020.

Critical reception

''Dark Matter'' received positive acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 83, based on 11 reviews. Album of the Year collected 12 reviews and calculated an average of 79 out of 100. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Elizabeth Aubrey of ''

'' described ''Dark Matter'' as "an ambitious work full of scope, where Boyd continues to innovate and impress." Andy Cowan of ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

'' described the album as a "vivid, diverse debut", and described Boyd as "ridiculously gifted". John Lewis of '' Uncut'' wrote, "This is not

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

or revival — this is jazz created in a distinctly London accent; the sounds you hear in cars and minicabs, the fractured beats you hear pouring out of teenagers’ phones — refracted through the prism of jazz." Dhruva Balram of ''

DJ Mag ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

'' wrote that Dark Matter possesses a "jazz-kissed effect", while noting that Boyd blends in elements of

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

, dub,

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

and

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

"remarkably well". He concluded, "Deftly, it sounds like an ode to the various genres that the UK can claim and champion." ''

Crack Magazine ''Crack'' is a monthly independent music and culture magazine distributed across Europe. Founded in Bristol in the UK in 2009, the magazine has featured Björk, MF Doom, Lil Yachty, FKA twigs, Gorillaz and Queens of the Stone Age on the cover ...

'' wrote "Producer albums can often be noodly, navel-gazing affairs… this isn’t one of those.''"'' Liam Martin of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

concluded that ''Dark Matter'' "cements oydas one of the most exciting jazz musicians of his generation."

Accolades

Rankings

Awards

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

and the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

Instrumentation and production

– producer , drums , drum programming , songwriter * Nathaniel Cross – arrangement , trombone , songwriter * Joe Armon-Jones – keyboards , synthesizer , rhodes , songwriter * Michael Underwood – tenor saxophone , flute * Ife Ogunjobe – trumpet * Theon Cross – tuba * Artie Zaitz – guitar * Koyejo Oloko –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

Nubya Garcia Nubya Nyasha Garcia (born 1991) is a British jazz musician, Saxophone, saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Early life and education Garcia was born in 1991 in Camden Town, London, the youngest of four siblings, to a Guyanese people, Guyanese ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

* Phillip Harper – percussion *

Binker Golding Binker Golding (born 1985) is a British jazz musician, who has released solo albums on Gearbox Records and is one half of the MOBO award-winning jazz duo Binker and Moses. Golding was born in 1985 and comes from Enfield, London, and went to Mid ...

– tenor saxophone * Poppy Ajudha – vocals, songwriter * Arnaud Gichaud –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

Chelsea Carmichael SEED Ensemble are a 10-piece British jazz ensemble led by Cassie Kinoshi. In 2019, they were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. ''Metro'' has described them as part of a "new wave of British jazz". SEED Ensemble's trumpet player, Sheila Maur ...

–

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

Steven Umoh Steven Umoh, better known by his stage name Obongjayar, is a Nigerian singer based in London, England. After releasing several EPs, his debut studio album, ''Some Nights I Dream of Doors'', was released in 2022, followed by ''Paradise Now'' in 2 ...

– vocals, songwriter * Nonku Phiri – vocals, songwriter *

Klein Klein may refer to: People *Klein (surname) *Klein (musician) Places * Klein (crater), a lunar feature *Klein, Montana, United States * Klein, Texas, United States * Klein (Ohm), a river of Hesse, Germany, tributary of the Ohm * Klein River, a r ...

– vocals * Gary Crosby – vocals

Technical and design

* Caspar Sutton-Jones – mastering engineer * David Wehinm –

mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

* Ahmad Dayes – recording enginee
* David Dargahi – recording engineer
* David Rodger – recording endineer * Gilles Barrett – recording engineer * Jay Thomas Heigl – recording engineer * Mia Bradley – recording engineer * Stella Murphy – designer *

Metropolis Studios Metropolis Studios is a music production and entertainment industry company established in 1989 by Gary Langan, Carey Taylor, Karin Clayton and Alexander Skeaping. Donald Brackett It is located in the Power House, a Grade II listed building, ...

– mastering location

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 debut albums Jazz albums by English artists Jazz fusion albums by English artists