What I Breathe
After a steady stream of singles and EPs since 2015, Australian-born, London-based producer Jordan Alexander flexes his ever-evolving sound on this debut album. Balancing melody-rich emotional depth with concussive club prompts, he has described *What I Breathe* as a lingering look back across his half-decade working under the Mall Grab moniker, as well as absorbing the myriad sounds of his adopted city. The former theme comes through in the nostalgia-warmed instrumental “I Can Remember It So Vividly,” while that vivid London influence can be heard on the breakbeat-riddled “Time Change”—featuring grime MCs Novelist and D Double E—and Nia Archives’ neo-soul vocal turn on “Patience.” Following Alexander’s 2020 remix EP for Turnstile, that band’s Brendan Yates contrasts alternately restrained and screamed vocals with mellow, almost ambient washes on “Understand.” Alexander himself even sings in a self-reflective murmur on “Without the Sun” and the closer, “Lost in Harajuku.”
Australian producer Jordon Alexander threads rabble-rousing rave and late-night ruminations into a debut that purports to pay tribute to dance music history but has remarkably little to say.
What I Breathe finds Australian producer Mall Grab confidently striding toward his goal of becoming one of dance music's biggest names by weaving together multiple genres through a spinal cord of embraced techno and electronic music.