Album reviewLondon-based trip-hop band Morcheeba left us floating in an ethereal haze on 2021's Blackest Blue, and this 11th album chases the same skies. On the aptly named Escape the Chaos, producer Ross Godfrey and singer Skye Edwards invite us on a journey into the above with the airy, acoustic textures of "Elephant Clouds" and "Far We Come," both of which lie in the same folk pop vein as the previous album, or on the excellent "Dead To Me" with its bossa nova guitar. For Morcheeba, Escape the Chaos was a family affair, with Edwards' son and husband joining the group on drums and bass, whilst Godfrey's wife, French singer Amanda Zamolo, adds a celestial touch to "Pareidolia." This is an album recorded together, in real life, in the same Dublin studio, which, according to the band, "allowed us to reconnect with the things that really matter"—and it thoroughly paid off. Though shadows still creep in the background, inserting themselves like yin into yang through the tortuous bass of "Peace of Me" with rapper Oscar #Worldpeace, or in the electric guitars of the title track, it's in the background that they firmly remain. Ultimately, Escape the Chaos is a radiant, feel-good record in which the warmth of the sun prevails in the end.
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Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz 
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