Tahuna Breaks: Reflections (Chewy/Rhythmethod)

While I understand the wide appeal of Fat Freddy's Drop -- a laidback distillation of reggae, soul and so forth -- it is too mellow for my taste.

Tahuna Breaks -- who also distill elements of soul and reggae but have an urgent rock attack too -- are much more my kind of thing.

Vocalist Marty Greentree often sings like his life depends on it and, being driven by a kind of live drum'n'bass feel with some funk tossed in for good measure, this album just leaps out and grabs you.

On Weekend Lover Man there are times when you can hear Greentree reaching into the blues also, Crisis comes with a slightly ominous undertow, and Blinded is an object lesson in how to have a reggae groove that still hits hard and allows Greentree to be both glad to have found a lover -- but also unsettlingly menacing in his need.

They do tend to play their aces early here -- they seem to have more than their share in the deck incidentally, but in music we don't consider that cheating -- and the closer If I Could strays way too far into Eagles balladry for my liking.

But by my count eight out of the 10 tracks here are commanding. And mellow they ain't.