After releasing a brace of critically-acclaimed soul records steeped in old school values, multi-instrumentalist, singer and rapper Mayer Hawthorne steps things up a notch with a record that signals his arrival on the mainstream pop scene.

Featuring some sterling production from a team which includes Pharrell Williams, and guest appearances from Kendrick Lemar (‘Crime’) and Jessie Ware (‘Her Favourite Song’), my guess is that the super slick sounds of tracks like ‘The Only One’ will be inescapable by the time 2013 draws to a close. Unconcerned with making music that recalls “the good old days”, Hawthorne’s third album might not be as forward-looking as he intends, but the likes of the Halls & Oates-indebted ‘The Innocent’ and the infectious and funky ‘Back Seat Lover’ (complete with high-pitched vocal yelps that recall Prince in his pomp) are near perfect pop nuggets.
This is one time warp we’d like to do again (and again).