Werkha - All Werk Is Play (LP) 2022 (Mint (M))

Manchester producer Tom Leah's first full-length as Werkha since 2015's Colours Of A Red Brick Raft, released as a fourteen-track double LP on First Word in 2022. Live horns, wind instruments, harp and double bass sit alongside synths and programmed drums, with vocal turns from Portuguese singer Moreiya, Mancunian musician Ellen Beth Abdi and Manchester MC Chunky, plus bass from GoGo Penguin's Nick Blacka. Leah calls the album a study in “challenging structure, to play” — an apt description for a record built on breakbeat and broken-beat foundations pulled toward something closer to dance music.