How's this for an impressive array of friends: the girls from Warpaint, Vampire Weekend's chief crooner Ezra Koenig, pop singer Jessie Ware, and trap king AA$P Ferg.
The guest roster attracted to SBTRKT's second album is a sign of just how far London-based electronic whizzkid Aaron Jerome has come since his understated 2011 debut.
While that self-titled effort coasted along on summery synths and a slurred dubstep undercurrent, and was showcased perfectly with a sun-drenched set at Auckland's Laneway festival in 2012, his second album doesn't take things as easy. Instead, Wonder Where We Land lives up to its name, showcasing an artist eager for expansion.
Yes, in its search for the new, things can get weird, like the bonkers backdrop of Look Away, which features awkwardly Auto-Tuned vocals from Chairlift's Caroline Polachek. Or New Dorp, New York, an LCD Soundsystem tribute track that comes with spoken word vocals from Koenig.
But there's a childlike sense of discovery flowing through each track, whether it's putting relatively unknown 18-year-old singer Raury to great use on the skittery ballad Higher, or Ware's standout performance on soaring ballad Problem (Solved). And while Temporary View's subtle bass blast and If It Happens' minimalist balladeering both feature Sampha and provide subtle nods back to SBTRKT's last album, his instrumental tracks are forward-thinking stunners.
