- Ninja Tune is a natural home for Seven Davis Jr. The label dedicates itself to promoting artists with the potential to transcend their particular pocket of the electronic music world. Davis Jr's chameleonic house music—funky, earworming, often vocal-led—promises to do just that. But as with Prince, a lingering presence in much of Davis Jr's music, the producer's weirder proclivities are just as crucial as his pop appeal. On his Ninja debut, which precedes an album due later this year, Davis Jr doesn't strike this balance quite so finely as he has elsewhere.
The brisk "Wild Hearts" has a certain fleet-footed funk to it, but it's a tricky one to throw your whole body into. "Let Somebody Love You"'s juicier elements—a secondary vocal track mulched with distortion, wisps of vocoded guitar—are mostly obscured by a pretty staid house beat. But if Davis Jr doesn't quite achieve the alchemical magic of "One" or "P.A.R.T.Y.," there's still plenty to enjoy here. "Let Somebody Love You" delivers an affirming message about emotional openness, and "Wild Hearts" celebrates the wild, the wayward and the irrepressible—qualities that continue to describe Davis Jr to a tee.
TracklistA1 Wild Hearts
B1 Let Somebody Love You