Silence In The Secret Garden

Released

2003’s Silence… was another collection of mostly previously released Moodymann material. It’s a mix of sample-based spiritual deep house and more abstract and experimental music and like all his albums up to this point, the tracks here exist in KDJ-time, where musical echos of the past are spliced with 21st-century beats and synths, often done so with the stitches clearly visible. Time here is as blurred as the edges of his samples, and there’s a free, loose, almost haphazard feel to the sounds Dixon assembles and the grooves he creates. It’s mostly subtle and hushed but also comes with more focused, direct moments like the uncompromising rigid-disco of the title track or the anxious techno cut On My Way Home. Packed with surprising twists and turns, sudden mood changes and outré codas, Silence… is another quality outing from Moodymann, an immersive, tripped-out, genre-meshing sonic collage.

Harold Heath