Delusionists present a problem. On the one hand, their grassroots hip-hop isn’t doing anything particularly innovative or groundbreaking, and throughout their album Prolusion Plus, it’s hard to escape the feeling that all of this has been done before.

But then you start to notice the little touches. Things like the capable beats from Jon Phonics, Kelakovski and Ed Strong. Things like the way the vocals are perfectly compressed and how the tracks have been superbly mixed, employing a light touch that oozes quality. And more importantly, you start to notice that while each track taken individually might not amount to much, the whole is so cohesive and slick that it’s hard not to come around.

That’s the other hand. And it doesn’t care what the first hand is doing.

This is hip-hop that revels in dusty breaks, bedroom-style raps and gentle concepts, and ends up being so atmospheric, down-home and stylish that it becomes a joy to listen to. If anything, Prolusion Plus seems to be deliberately designed as the opposite of modern club-friendly rap; indeed, the only club stuff on offer here is the jazz club smokiness of ‘The Evil‘ (and damn good it is, too). It takes time to get going, but manages to successfully take you back to your first experiments in this thing called rap – no easy task.

It helps that the MCs can really spit. Ben Black and DBF (no relation to the Son Records spitter) have got some bars on them, and although their delivery can be somewhat earnest and humourless their gentle cadences and refusal to bombard you with imagery adds to the album’s appeal.

You can eat lamb rogan josh for your entire life and still come across one that blows your mind when you were least expecting it. Such is the case with Prolusion Plus. There’s enough atmosphere and decent production to keep things ticking over in the background, and plenty of cool little moments that’ll leave your face screwed up like you bit into a cardamom pod.

Words Rob Boffard