Toronto producer Ryan Hemsworth spent the first few years of his career flirting with all different kinds of electronic music: Twinkly, high-key compositions that hint at pop and skittering deconstructions of bass music and hip-hop are all over 2014’s Alone for the First Time and 2013’s Still Awake EP. On Elsewhere, his fourth album and first full-length in four years, this all comes together into one cohesive statement. It’s also a helluva lot deeper-sounding than he’s ever gone before—which is apparent from the first note of the Marco McKinnis-featuring “This Feeling,” a chugging, soulful house tune, and carries on through the OVO-style production of “One of One” and “For U” and the playful Caribbean vibes of “Special Girl” and “Four Seasons.” It’s no accident that there’s a track here called “Sade”—these slick R&B jams and low-slung dance grooves prove Hemsworth is quite the smooth operator after all.
