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7 / 10 Rodney Smith, aka Roots Manuva, was trading in wry, humorous Brit-hop back when a teenage Mike Skinner was still chained to a games console. With ‘4everevolution’ Smith continues to avoid the genre’s default Americanisms and instead dabbles in proggy electronic wizardry (‘In The Throes Of It’), warped R&B (‘Takes Time To’) and sleekly produced, astute socio-political commentary (‘Who Goes There?’). Smith’s career may have taken a wayward track while Skinner prospered, but it seems this natural eccentric and chameleon has outlasted the young pretender.

Ash Dosanjh

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