Dark Matter (Moses Boyd album)

Dark Matter is the debut solo studio album by British jazz musician Moses Boyd. Boyd released it independently on 14 February 2020 under his own label, Exodus Records. The album was his third-ever solo project, following Absolute Zero (2017) and Displaced Diaspora (2018). Dark Matter was met with widespread critical acclaim upon release and was later nominated for the Mercury Prize.

Background and recording
Boyd explained to Apple Music that the record "isn’t meant to be a negative record; it's meant to unify, to make people think.” On the inspiration and motive behind the record's title, he told The Fader:

"I'm very into space. I remember watching a program and they were talking about dark matter and this invisible substance that no one really knows much about, but accounts for so much. They say they estimate 80 percent of our universe is dark matter. I was like, 'Oh wow, there's this invisible thing that is so important, but no one can really explain or define it.' And then in all that was going on around the world, it was like, 'It's all this darkness, but in a weird way, if I pick a random person on the street and started talking to them, there's something that unifies us in this darkness.' They equally think this is terrible, but there's some sort of positive in that, because there's two people now that think this is terrible. But there's hope."

Composition
Musically, Dark Matter is a jazz record with elements of electronica,  dance, jazz fusion, grime,   and rock. Piotr Orlov of Afropunk additionally highlighted the record's influences of afro-pop and afrobeats. Elizabeth Aubrey of NME described the record as a "melting-pot of genres and styles where complex jazz rhythms sit alongside [the aforementioned genres]", stressing that "whilst its head leans towards the mathematical with its polymath rhythms and intricate structures, its heart is firmly on the dancefloor." Bryan Hahn of The Fader confirmed that on the album, Boyd "ignored expectations and rules, blending genres, freshly recorded sounds, and emotions."

Release and promotion
Despite releasing the album's lead single "Stranger Than Fiction" on 23 October 2019, Boyd only announced the album with the release of the second single, "Only You" on 27 November 2019. The album's third and final single, "Shades of You" was released on 9 January 2020.

Critical reception
Dark Matter received positive acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on 11 reviews. Album of the Year collected 12 reviews and calculated an average of 79 out of 100. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.

Elizabeth Aubrey of NME described Dark Matter as "an ambitious work full of scope, where Boyd continues to innovate and impress." Andy Cowan of Mojo described the album as a "vivid, diverse debut", and described Boyd as "ridiculously gifted". John Lewis of Uncut wrote, "This is not pastiche or revival — this is jazz created in a distinctly London accent; the sounds you hear in cars and minicabs, the fractured beats you hear pouring out of teenagers’ phones — refracted through the prism of jazz." Dhruva Balram of DJ Mag wrote that Dark Matter possesses a "jazz-kissed effect", while noting that Boyd blends in elements of reggae, dub, dancehall, drum and bass, techno, house and garage "remarkably well". He concluded, "Deftly, it sounds like an ode to the various genres that the UK can claim and champion." Crack Magazine wrote "Producer albums can often be noodly, navel-gazing affairs… this isn’t one of those." Liam Martin of AllMusic concluded that Dark Matter "cements [Boyd] as one of the most exciting jazz musicians of his generation."

Personnel
Credits adapted from Discogs and the album's liner notes:

Instrumentation and production

 * Moses Boyd – producer (all tracks), drums (1, 3-10), drum programming (1, 2), songwriter (all tracks)
 * Nathaniel Cross – arrangement (1, 3, 4, 10), trombone (1, 3, 4, 8, 10), songwriter (3)
 * Joe Armon-Jones – keyboards (5, 8), synthesizer (1), rhodes (4), songwriter (8)
 * Michael Underwood – tenor saxophone (1, 4, 10), flute (10)
 * Ife Ogunjobe – trumpet (1, 3, 4, 8, 10)
 * Theon Cross – tuba (1, 3, 4, 8)
 * Artie Zaitz – guitar (1, 3–6, 10)
 * Koyejo Oloko – executive producer (all tracks)
 * Nubya Garcia – tenor saxophone (1, 9)
 * Phillip Harper – percussion (3, 4)
 * Binker Golding – tenor saxophone (3, 6)
 * Poppy Ajudha – vocals, songwriter (5)
 * Arnaud Gichaud – alto saxophone (3)
 * Chelsea Carmichael – baritone saxophone (3)
 * Steven Umoh – vocals, songwriter (6)
 * Nonku Phiri – vocals, songwriter (9)
 * Klein – vocals (7)
 * Gary Crosby – vocals (2)

Technical and design
* David Dargahi – recording engineer
 * Caspar Sutton-Jones – mastering engineer
 * David Wehinm – mixing engineer, audio engineer
 * Ahmad Dayes – recording engineer
 * David Rodger – recording endineer
 * Gilles Barrett – recording engineer
 * Jay Thomas Heigl – recording engineer
 * Mia Bradley – recording engineer
 * Stella Murphy – designer
 * Metropolis Studios – mastering location