Superb sci-fi soul moods & grooves from Philly's Fhloston Paradigm, aka deep house/jazz/hip hop legend King Britt. After escalating anticipation since his widely acclaimed 'Chasing Rainbows' EP, Britt allows space to fully immerse in his vision of a futurist sound-world on 'The Phoenix', drawing us into a gauzily impressionistic yet exquisitely detailed sphere of celestial soul sirens, frayed techno and hi-tech jazz motifs traversing orbital styles of UR, Sun Ra, Vangelis and Theo Parrish. Marrying masterful sound design with jazz-wise percussive dexterity and precisely affective sci-fi synths, the album realises a bittersweet narrative entering with the airlock compressions of 'Portal 1' and gyrating between Unirhythm-style house in 'Race To The Moon' to writhing breakbeat science in 'Letters Of The Past' thru Cluster-like synth-scape 'Tension Remains' feat. Pia Ercole' to the titular nine minute drum machine workout and alien slowfast skater, 'Never Forget'. Crucial to the story are shorter bridges and cues, adding up to a varied topology exoanding and contracting between widescreen synth vision and shorter dramas adding up to a cosmically coherent piece of sonic fiction brought to life.
