Burdy – 42

Burdy and his debut album <I>42</I> don’t forge new ground in downtempo; rather, they’re quite content to walk the paths that have been laid before. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “Marco Rico” is finger-snapping enough to cheer up a rainy afternoon, while “Catching Zeds” throws in a lovely female voice juxtaposed with a booming hip-hop MC sample. “Broken” slows things down a bit for a lazy afternoon on the couch, then “Groove Driver” makes you get off your butt and do some housework. The entire album flows by pleasantly enough, without either jarring the listener or surprising the listener. This may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your tastes, but for me, it’s just an OK thing.